Why does a child have bad rotten teeth: reasons and salvation

Bad teeth in a child: reasons

A child’s baby teeth rot for various reasons.
Some are impossible to influence, others can be easily eliminated by dentists and caring adults. Most often, destruction of the enamel, and subsequently the coronal part of the primary occlusion units, is facilitated by:

• Disorders of intrauterine development of a child. Developmental pathologies are formed due to maternal toxicosis, non-compliance with nutritional recommendations, and the use of potent medications.
• Early birth of the baby. Prematurity of a baby indicates incomplete formation of internal systems - in particular, weak thin enamel of baby teeth.
• Antibacterial therapy administered to a child in the first year of life.
• Poor hygiene. Lack of systematic cleaning after the first tooth erupts, improper care, and inadequate parental control.
• Unbalanced child nutrition. Predominance of flour and sweets in the menu, lack of fermented milk and dairy products, hard fruits and vegetables.
• Reduced immunity. Congenital or due to a lack of vitamins in the diet.
• Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, dysbacteriosis.
• Diseases of the endocrine system - diabetes mellitus.
• Previous infections - ARVI, chicken pox, scarlet fever.
• Pathogenic microflora entering the baby’s mouth from the outside. If family members have the habit of licking the baby’s spoon or pacifier, or kissing the baby on the lips.
• Poor ecology is a significant external factor that negatively affects the condition of the child’s teeth and general well-being.
• Heredity - parents or grandparents have bad teeth.
• Mechanical injuries, external damage to tooth enamel - cracks, small chips.

How to determine if a child has bad baby teeth

A child's rotten front teeth are immediately visible. These are dark or yellow spots of enamel, reddened gums, and damaged edges. But sometimes decay begins on the distant teeth - molars, premolars, and then you need to focus on indirect signs.

The fact that a child is growing bad teeth is indicated by:

• complaints of pain and discomfort - reaction to toothpaste, hot or cold foods;
• unpleasant odor from the baby’s mouth - putrid, pungent;
• change in enamel color - the appearance of dark stripes, yellow or dark spots;
• development of dental diseases - caries, pulpitis.

Any of the listed factors indicates the need for consultation with a pediatric dentist - a full diagnosis and timely treatment.

Stages of decay of children's milk teeth

A child’s bad teeth almost always mean caries. The disease is distinguished by the type and depth of tissue damage. Dentists highlight:

1. Initial and superficial caries is the primary destruction of the enamel, manifested as white spots.
2. Visible carious lesions are medium and deep caries. Teeth rot quickly and stains develop into cavities. The child begins to experience pain. An unpleasant odor appears from the mouth.
3. Circular caries is the circular destruction of enamel and dentin near the gums. If left untreated, the tooth breaks and rots further to the root.

In particularly advanced situations, damage covers an increasingly larger volume of tissue, leading to serious pain and loss of the milk unit.

Why should caries in primary teeth be treated?

It is a mistake to think that baby teeth do not require treatment. Tooth decay is a disease caused by the growth of bacteria in the mouth. It weakens the immune system, and this leads to frequent illnesses in the child.

Tooth irritation from food forces the child to spare the affected side when chewing, which can disrupt the bite for life.

Consequences of refusing treatment:

• Maintaining a focus of chronic infection. From the oral cavity, bacteria can spread to the ENT organs, the digestive tract, the lungs and even lead to sepsis.
• Violation of the formation of permanent teeth. Unrecognized deep caries has a negative effect on the rudiments of permanent teeth. As a result, they grow up weakened or already affected by caries.
• Violation of the integrity of the dentition. In the absence of timely treatment, children quickly develop pulpitis. Such teeth are removed, the integrity of the dentition is damaged, and the bite changes.

Bad teeth in a child: how to treat

Decay of baby teeth can be stopped. Especially if the parents quickly assessed the threat and brought the child to the children's dental clinic. Treatment options are different:

1. Remineralization of tooth enamel

   The doctor will apply a special gel to the baby teeth, which contains minerals to strengthen the teeth. Usually it is calcium, phosphorus, fluorine. The substances will restore the enamel structure at an early stage of destruction, but if the teeth are already rotting, the dentist will select a different treatment.

2. Sealing

   Cleaning out carious cavities and then installing a filling. The preparation method is selected according to the patient’s age. Modern dental clinics treat teeth without a drill - using the ICON method, as well as using classical methods.

3. Ozonation of teeth

   A method of disinfecting destroyed cavities followed by filling, when ozone is used to eliminate pathogenic microflora. The treatment has proven itself to work with children's rotten teeth, but is only suitable for moderate decay.

4. Laser therapy

   The disinfectant effect of a laser beam is an excellent way to disinfect a small cavity and remove bacterial microorganisms in the mouth of a young patient. Suitable for the treatment of moderate caries of primary teeth.

5. Removal

   A radical method of dealing with rotten teeth of a child. Used when it is impossible to carry out therapy and save teeth.

Rodikova Tatyana
When parents are interested in why their child has bad teeth, I first of all ask about nutrition. Almost all children today eat sweets, chips, and drink soda without restrictions. Of course, this negatively affects the teeth. The second common reason is heredity. Congenital diseases and medications are less likely to damage teeth.

Why treat baby teeth?

Rotten baby teeth do not always attract the attention of parents. Especially if the pathological processes are painless and do not bother the child. Adults think that when the bite changes, the bad teeth will disappear by themselves, and instead of rotten teeth, normal molars will grow. Dentists warn about the fallacy of such a misconception.

Rotten milk teeth are:

• damage or destruction of tooth germs - a high risk that the root units will grow sick or not appear at all;
• early loss of primary occlusion units - leads to displacement of existing teeth, the appearance of crowding, and the formation of a pathologically abnormal bite;
• an ugly smile, an unaesthetic appearance - the appearance of complexes due to appearance in young children, decreased contact with peers, uncertainty, isolation;
• deterioration of diction - rotten, breaking teeth interfere with the correct movements of the tongue during speech, leading to a lisp, burr;
• gradual spread of infection - damage not only to the surface of the teeth, but also to the pulp, development of pulpitis, the appearance of an abscess, as well as a tendency to ENT diseases and gastrointestinal diseases.

What to do if your teeth are crumbling?

The first and main thing to do if teeth are crumbling in adults and children is to consult a dentist for an examination and professional consultation. The doctor will advise how to strengthen the teeth so that they do not crumble, if necessary, he will carry out therapeutic procedures (remineralization, fluoridation), and if the process is advanced, restoration. In addition, this problem often requires concomitant treatment of the gums, since sometimes dental tissues suffer due to inflammatory processes in the soft tissues of the oral cavity, and vice versa, dental diseases lead to problems with the gums.

You also need to pay attention to the following points:

• Normalization of nutrition with the development of a certain food regimen and revision of the diet in the direction of increasing “healthy” foods in it (fermented milk products, eggs, sea fish, herbs, legumes).
• Thorough oral hygiene includes not only mandatory brushing twice daily, but also rinsing your mouth after meals, using dental floss and toothpicks.
• Timely treatment of diseases of the endocrine and digestive system, adherence to the diet indicated in such cases.
• Consultations with an endocrinologist and therapist to identify possible causes of tooth enamel destruction.
• Rejection of bad habits.

How to prepare your child for an orthodontic appointment

The initial appointment with an orthodontist takes place without any preparation. The child just needs to brush his teeth and eat beforehand. The latter is desirable, as it will help reduce salivation and facilitate the examination procedure. The child should also be told about the doctor’s specialization. In simple words, explain who this pediatric orthodontist is and what he treats.

An orthodontic examination is a painless procedure. It does not cause fear or discomfort in the baby, but it helps to identify deviations in the development of the dentition as early as possible.

Soldatenkova Alina

Typically, the removal of decayed milk teeth involves the extraction of several units at once. At Azabuka, we recommend performing this procedure under anesthesia or sedation. It is completely safe for the child, and most importantly, it does not leave traumatic, unpleasant memories in the child’s memory.

Other causes of enamel darkening in children

Rotten baby teeth in a child look different in the photo. Usually these are black spots, lumpy enamel, deformed crowns - unpleasant, ugly, even creepy. But an unaesthetic appearance does not always indicate rotting. Sometimes the reasons lie in other diagnoses or pathologies:

• black plaque;
• enamel hypoplasia;
• abnormalities in tooth shape.

Black plaque - stains on baby teeth

Dark spots on teeth are not always tooth decay. It could also be:

• Priestley's plaque - appears due to the increased activity of certain bacteria that secrete a black pigment. The defect is aesthetic, but dentists advise cleaning the enamel from plaque, since it can prevent caries or other dental diseases.
• Dark deposits due to taking iron supplements are an aesthetic problem, which professional cleaning helps to cope with.

Dark pigmentation is also caused by dysbiosis, lack of calcium, and taking antibiotics. Plaque is removed using gentle dental cleaning methods, returning the enamel to its natural whiteness.

Enamel hypoplasia and tooth shape abnormalities

Hypoplasia manifests itself as a change in the structure and color of the enamel and is not a carious lesion. Is it congenital or acquired? In the case of systemic hypoplasia, the shape of the dentition units may also be affected. Externally, the pathology manifests itself as:

• an altered line of the tooth edge is a natural deformation, and not due to rotten teeth;
• barrel-shaped crowns, cone-shaped - due to changes in the tooth at the dentin level;
• spots on the tooth surface of different sizes and shades - altered enamel thickness, insufficiently developed tissues.

For isolated manifestations, hypoplasia is not treated. In case of severe defects in baby teeth, the doctor will suggest remineralization and filling of the affected areas.

Causes

Although enamel hypoplasia is more common in permanent teeth, it is also observed in children. The main factors that increase the risk of its occurrence include malocclusion, periodontal disease and the formation of irregularly shaped teeth. In addition, hypoplasia of primary teeth can be the result of:

• diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, as a result of which the absorption of vitamins and microelements is reduced,
• long-term diet low in vitamins A, D and K, as well as calcium, magnesium, fluorine and phosphorus,
• endocrine disorders (thyroid gland, pancreas, thymus),
• childhood diseases (smallpox, measles, rubella).

Some researchers have found that dental hypoplasia in children may be caused by prenatal abnormalities such as lead exposure or maternal tetracycline use.

Congenital enamel anomaly is a hereditary disorder of enamel development, leading to damage to both primary and permanent dentition. It may coexist with eruption pathology, congenital tooth loss, anterior open bite, pulp calcification, dentin dysplasia, crown and root resorption, root hypercementosis, root structural defects, and taurodontism. The defect is not associated with any systemic symptoms or defects in other organs and can be divided into subtypes:

1. In the hypoplastic type, the enamel matrix is ​​formed in smaller quantities, but is relatively well mineralized.
2. In type 1 hypomineralization (hypocalcification), it is present in relatively normal amounts, but is not sufficiently mineralized.
3. With the hypomaturation type, the last phases of the mineralization process are disrupted; this type is considered a milder form of the hypomineralizing type.

Each type of problem can be divided into different subtypes depending on the mechanism of inheritance, as well as clinical, radiological, histological and genetic characteristics. In all major types, both maturational and mineralization disorders are present to varying degrees. An anterior open bite can be observed in both the hypoplastic and hypomineralizing types. This variability in clinical manifestations makes differential diagnosis difficult.

How to protect your child's teeth

Among the main preventive measures for the preservation of teeth in children of any age are:

• Maintaining oral hygiene to prevent plaque formation - timely care, selection of toothbrushes and toothpastes according to age, professional cleaning using gentle methods.
• Good nutrition - creating a varied menu that will include yoghurts, kefir, cheeses, vegetables and fruits.
• Selection of a vitamin complex according to age - independently or after consultation with a pediatrician.
• Timely visits to the dentist - pediatricians recommend coming for scheduled appointments every 4-6 months. This helps to identify caries and enamel destruction at an early stage and save teeth from serious problems.
• Fissure sealing - smoothing the lumpy surfaces of molars and premolars to reduce the risk of caries and rotting of distant units.

Rodikova Tatyana
Parents often have to explain: it doesn’t matter when the child’s bad teeth appeared - at 3 years old or at 7 years old - they need to be treated. Waiting until they fall out on their own is a big risk. Fortunately, in most cases the explanations work and we begin treatment. It's nice to see how a child's face changes when he sees beautiful, even, snow-white teeth in the mirror - instead of rotten and black ones.

It is also worth carefully monitoring the mechanical integrity of the teeth, since any crack or chip is a potential threat to the child’s dental health.

The health of children is the concern of parents. Poor heredity, diseases, premature birth indicate the need for careful monitoring of the condition of teeth - timely prevention and treatment. If everything is done correctly, then the child will not have rotten teeth, but only a joyful and beautiful smile.

How to prevent caries in one-year-old children: preventive measures

Simple preventive measures will help prevent the development of this pathology, which can lead to the loss of several baby teeth at once:

• Clean your baby's teeth and gums with a special fingertip immediately after eating.
• Do not bottle feed a 1 year old child.
• Dentists note that bottle caries can also develop in one-year-old breastfed children. What's more, breast milk contains more sugar than formula, so prolonged breastfeeding can be damaging to children's teeth.
• Brush your teeth immediately after teething. First, use a soft toothbrush with fluoride-free toothpaste; after two years, you can use baby toothpaste with fluoride.
• Brush your child's teeth or supervise this process until he is at least eight years old.
• Don’t give sweet drinks, it’s better to teach them to drink plain water and unsweetened tea.
• Do not feed your baby at night. At night, the production of saliva, which has a bactericidal effect and fights germs, decreases. If necessary, you can give your child clean water to drink at night.
• Do not share a spoon with your child or put his pacifier in his mouth to avoid the transmission of cariogenic bacteria.
• Check your teeth regularly. If you notice white spots on them, lines on the tooth enamel near the gums, be sure to contact your dentist.
• Visit your dentist regularly, even if there are no stains on your teeth.

Follow all preventive measures, and you can prevent caries in children under one year old and maintain oral health.