Tetracycline teeth are characterized by the appearance of unnatural shades in the tooth enamel and are caused by the penetration of large or small doses of the antibiotic tetracycline into the body. The route of penetration does not matter - oral administration of drugs and applications to mucous membranes, for example, are also to blame.
Tetracycline intervention occurs in several ways. Often the child receives the drug from the mother while still inside the womb. A pregnant woman, possibly as a result of self-medication or prescribed serious therapy, takes tetracycline. The baby is born with a pathology that becomes visible at the time of teething.
It happens that pediatricians prescribe tetracycline treatment to children under 14 years of age. At this age, the enamel has not yet completed its formation cycle, therefore it is vulnerable and capable of absorbing the medicinal component.
Antibiotics are used to treat diseases that do not require easy progression and self-treatment: pneumonia, ulcers, cholera. Tetracycline also has a good effect on painful skin formations, various rashes, bacteriological lesions, etc. The doctor is obliged to warn the patient about the consequences of such therapy. Not only the enamel is at risk, the marginal periodontium as a whole is also weakened.
Sometimes a change in the color of the enamel occurs in an adult who has not been treated with an antibiotic. But teeth are still called tetracycline teeth - for a similar external effect. The list of possible reasons includes:
- Products containing chemicals and dyes;
- Atypical manifestations of allergies;
- The influence of hard ultraviolet radiation;
- A special reaction of the body to an internal or external stimulus.
An antibiotic that has entered the body cannot be removed. Its danger lies in the possibility of delayed action. That is, a person is being treated now, but the reaction will occur years later.
What colors are tetracycline teeth?
Most often, the enamel in the cervical area of the tooth is affected - it is this area that is the first to form in the fetus. Dynamics of similar frequency are observed when tetracycline is deposited in the lateral parts, in the folds of the enamel. Sometimes all the teeth in a row show the same even shade, and sometimes the color is distributed in spots, making the teeth look mosaic.
The color palette is almost always shifted to the left side of the spectrum. Teeth acquire yellow, brown, orange and brown shades in various variations. Sometimes the enamel looks gray.
Symptoms
- Persistent irreversible discoloration;
- pigmentation of gray, yellow, brown, brown shade;
- the entire crown or a separate area is painted;
- thinning of enamel, cracks, chips;
- sensitivity to hot, cold;
- Tetracycline staining of teeth is uneven, looks like transverse stripes on the enamel.
Diagnosis of tetracycline teeth
Treatment of teeth affected by tetracycline requires correct diagnosis. Human teeth can change color when exposed to a variety of dyes. This situation is familiar to smokers with teeth yellowed by nicotine, lovers of strong coffee, red wine, etc. Teeth can change color due to developing caries, darken as a result of nerve removal, or taking iron supplements.
Tetracycline teeth are easy to identify. Under UV radiation they begin to glow brightly, and the doctor determines the cause of the lesion.
General understanding of the problem
Tetracycline is included in many drugs with a wide spectrum of action.
It is this substance that, penetrating the human body, can change the color of the enamel. The medication is distinguished by its ability to bind to calcium during the mineralization process, as a result of which the condition of the teeth worsens. The disease is one of the specific dental pathologies. Tetracycline teeth are one of the types of enamel hypoplasia.
The course of the disease is characterized by the absence of carious phenomena. The peculiarity of this pathology is that it develops exclusively in tissues that have not yet formed. Therefore, pregnant women and children are at risk.
With this disease, the entire enamel located both in front and inside the oral cavity changes color. Pathology develops only against the background of active treatment carried out by taking tetracycline-based medications. This substance is deposited in the rudiments of the enamel, dentin and bone structure of the fetus.
The extent to which the color of teeth changes directly depends on the amount of medications consumed. In particular, the most significant staining is observed in the case of dimethylchlortetracycline.
Most often, the color of that part of the tooth changes, the formation of which occurred simultaneously with tetracycline treatment:
- if therapy was carried out during pregnancy, the baby teeth of the unborn child are affected;
- When the drug is prescribed to a child older than 6 months, the damage will be noticeable on the permanent teeth.
Over time, the shade of damaged enamel may change under the influence of external factors. For example, food coloring can affect the color of your teeth.
It was noted above that tetracycline staining of teeth appears if children or pregnant women took the antibiotic of the same name to treat certain diseases. Usually, a change in the color of the enamel occurs when consuming large doses of this substance.
Tetracycline is commonly prescribed to treat:
- skin rashes of various types;
- pneumonia;
- peptic ulcers;
- cholera.
Under normal conditions, dental tissue is formed up to 12 years of age.
That is why tetracycline antibiotics are contraindicated for pregnant women and young children. In cases where the need for the use of such drugs is allowed (for example, the disease cannot be treated with other methods), the doctor must inform the patient about the possible consequences.
It is important to note that taking this substance and drugs based on it does not provoke the development of carious processes and do not cause pain.
The substance in small quantities can only change the color of the enamel. However, due to the fact that Tetracycline disrupts the formation of dental tissue, with active consumption of such antibiotics, the enamel structure will be abnormal.
Remineralization of tooth enamel
The lack of mineral components during the formation of enamel is the main source of the formation of tetracycline teeth. When restoring enamel, applications with calcium gloconate and sodium fluoride are effective. The phonophoresis procedure is used. The goal of therapy is to supply ions of the main elements to the enamel: calcium, phosphorus and fluorine.
Treatment is carried out in the clinic, and in case of slight darkening, outpatient treatment at home is allowed. Up to 20 procedures will be required. If performed daily, therapy will end after three weeks or earlier. With a course of use every other day, it will take up to one and a half months.
In this case, the patient did not have any serious problems with aesthetics. I wanted to significantly lighten my teeth and improve their shape. If we were talking about traditional veneers, we would dissuade the patient from the procedure.
There is no point in sacrificing dental health for aesthetics. In this case, the patient did not have any serious problems with aesthetics. I wanted to significantly lighten my teeth and improve their shape. If we were talking about traditional veneers, we would dissuade the patient from the procedure. There is no point in sacrificing dental health for aesthetics.
With Luxneers you don’t have to choose between health and beauty - you can create a perfect smile without sacrifice! The teeth are not subjected to grinding and you can return to your “natural smile” at any time. The procedure is comfortable, installation is absolutely painless!
Find out more about Luxneers no-preparation veneers
Causes of the defect
This type of pigmentation occurs only in one case - the accumulation of tetracycline salts in the body. It is used quite rarely for the treatment of severe bacterial ailments:
- pneumonia;
- cholera;
- acne;
- ulcers.
The accumulation of the substance occurs in bone tissue, and it is impossible to remove it from the body. Moreover, a change in enamel may not occur immediately, but may be provoked by other reasons. Important! Medicines containing tetracycline are contraindicated in children under 14 years of age, pregnant women and women during lactation.
Tetracycline Teeth Whitening
After the initial stage of treatment, most patients with tetracycline teeth will require aesthetic therapy.
It is acceptable to try to whiten dark teeth if your doctor supports this method of restoring the beauty of your smile. The technique will show results if the initial darkening is slight and uniform. However, a situation often occurs when, after a short period of time, the teeth return to their previous color, neutralizing the results of whitening. The patient has to repeatedly subject himself to the procedure in an attempt to achieve harmony.
Any whitening methods acceptable for a particular patient are allowed - hardware and home use. If the result is persistently unsatisfactory, there is only one way out - to resort to dental restoration.
Restoration of tetracycline teeth with veneers
Veneers are a good way out if your own teeth, given by nature, are no longer pleasing. The term refers to extremely thin plates that are placed on the tooth and cover its front part like a shield.
There are a number of technologies for installing veneers. Designs are divided into direct and indirect. The cost of the former is quite affordable for any patient. They are made quickly; the technique is based on layering a composite material on the vestibular part of the tooth.
Hollywood veneers, like those of movie stars, are glued with a special glue; sometimes preliminary grinding of the enamel is required. By analogy with the previous ones, they are very similar to natural enamel, and the doctor enhances the identity by selecting a similar shade and transparency of the veneer according to the Vita scale. Mostly installed on incisors.
The third type of veneers combines expensive lumineers and ultraneers. These plates are attached to the teeth without preparing the enamel. They can be used to cover all teeth in a row, including chewing ones. An additional advantage of lumineers is their extraordinary whiteness and long service life.
Opinion on the treatment of tetracycline teeth
Tetracycline is a time-tested antibiotic. Even if a person abstains from taking pills, tetracycline ointment is often used for herpes, conjunctivitis, and acne, which is extremely helpful. But in adults, brown teeth of this etiology are rare. A person is born with tetracycline teeth.
Treating damaged enamel and restoring color will not be cheap. In this case, a person has the right to choose - try whitening and then move on to installing veneers, or immediately agree to aesthetic therapy with ceramic onlays or crowns.
Tetracycline teeth whitening that skips the remineralization step will do nothing. It is also unacceptable to practice self-medication and purchase various whitening strips, pencils and gels without consulting a doctor. It is easy to damage teeth, but restoring the lost beauty of a smile can be extremely difficult, time consuming and expensive.
Install Luxneers veneers! With them you will forever forget about the problems of tetracycline teeth
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How to recognize pathology?
The first sign is an irreversible change in the color of the teeth - from light yellow to dark gray. The changes in shades are heterogeneous, it is possible that only the crown area is affected, or a spot coating is possible.
Tooth enamel immediately begins to deteriorate, it becomes fragile, and upon palpation of the affected area, unevenness and roughness are determined.
No painful sensations are observed, but caries and other pathologies of the oral cavity are often added to the symptoms.
