Yellow and Other Discolored Teeth in Children – Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

A child’s innocent and beautiful smile renders one of the greatest joys to their parents. However, sometimes your kiddo’s pearly whites may become yellow or other kinds of discolouration may happen, and this may affect your child’s beautiful smile. There is no need to worry as you can adopt various measures to improve your child’s teeth colour. If your kid’s teeth discolouration is giving you sleepless nights, you should stop worrying in the following article, we shall talk about causes, treatments and various preventive that you can take to improve your kid’s yellow or other discolouration of teeth.

What Is Tooth Discoloration?

Before we move ahead with the article, we should understand what exactly tooth discolouration is. According to the Cleveland Clinic, tooth discolouration may happen when the natural pearly white or ivory white colour of your kid’s teeth changes, appearing yellowish, developing dark or while flecks, or appearing less bright (1). Tooth discolouration can be of two types- external discolouration and internal discolouration. Where external discolouration may be temporary and may occur due to certain medications, food items, etc.; on the other hand, internal discolouration may happen mostly due to underlying medical conditions such as metabolic disorders, enamel hypoplasia, etc.

What Causes Tooth Discoloration in Children

“Why are my kid’s teeth yellow?’ If you are wondering why are my child’s teeth discoloured, then the following causes may help you understand it better (2).

1. Tooth Decay or Carries

Your child may have dental decay or cavities due to the activity of the bacteria in his mouth. This may cause brownish-black discolouration on the teeth (1).

2. Improper Oral Hygiene

If your kid does not follow proper oral hygiene and does not brush his teeth properly, it may lead to the formation of plaque, and thus, a change in the colour of the teeth may happen (3).

3. Fluorosis

Excessive fluoride in your kid’s formula milk, toothpaste or drinking water may lead to too much fluoride in your child’s mouth. Excess amounts of fluoride may result in a condition that may result in white streaks or patches on your kid’s teeth (4).

4. Certain Illnesses

Some kinds of illnesses or ailments, such as hepatitis, asthma, recurrent high fever, etc., may lead to tooth discolouration in kids (5).

5. Jaundice

Sometimes, babies who may get affected with severe jaundice after birth may have yellow or green-tinted teeth due to the presence of more amount of bilirubin during dental development.

6. Injury

Sometimes, a traumatic injury to the teeth may lead to tooth discolouration, too. This may happen because the blood vessels may break, and the blood may affect the tooth enamel, or the dental pulp becomes inflamed, bleeds, and mineralize as post-traumatic sequelae. This effect may cause a pinkish hue in the affected tooth, which can turn black with the passage of time. There can also be discoloration to yellow, dark gray, or pink, depending on the intensity of the damage (6).

7. Use of Certain Medications

The use of certain medications in children before the age of 8, such as the antibiotic~~ tetracycline, which is used to treat UTI, may lead to discolouration of the baby’s teeth (7).

8. Enamel Hypoplasia

This is a genetic condition in which either the enamel coating is missing from the teeth or it is very thin. This may lead to discolouration (8).

The above-mentioned are some of the common causes of tooth discolouration in kids.

Signs of Teeth Discoloration

Though teeth discolouration may be very evident by looking at your kid’s teeth. The following signs may help you in establishing if your kid is suffering from any kind of teeth discolouration (9).

• Your child’s teeth may appear brown. This could be due to consuming some dark beverage or by some kind of injury.
• Your kid’s teeth may have white stains. This may indicate early signs of tooth decay.
• Your child’s teeth may appear red, purple or blue. This may occur due to trauma or by consuming some dark-coloured food.
• Your kid’s teeth may appear orange. This may indicate an accumulation of bacteria on your kid’s teeth due to improper oral hygiene.
• Your child’s teeth may have black stains. This may occur because of iron supplements, cavities or tooth trauma.
• Your child’s teeth may appear gray or grayish-black. This colour could appear after the dental treatment with certain materials, like mercury, lead, or silver nitrate.
• Your child’s teeth may have green or bluish-green stains. This indicates the situation in which a child uses products made up of copper and nickel, which may cause teeth infection because of chromogenic bacteria.

Ways to Treat Discoloration of Teeth

Are you seeing your child’s teeth yellow despite brushing regularly? Well, there are several treatment options available to get rid of teeth discoloration. If you are thinking about how to whiten your kid’s teeth, the following treatment options may prove to be beneficial.

1. If your kid is taking iron supplements, it may sometimes lead to tooth staining. Therefore, be very deliberate when brushing your kid’s teeth if he is taking iron supplements so that any stains do not set in. These stains go away once the supplements are stopped.
2. If discolouration may be due to trauma, it may be difficult to treat, but you should get in touch with the dentist to know the possibility of the permanent teeth getting affected due to the injury.
3. Your dentist may use a pumice mixture to get rid of stains and bacteria that may be causing tooth discolouration.
4. Teeth-whitening strips of gauze soaked in the hydrogen peroxide solution are known to help restore teeth’s normal color (10).
5. For minimal teeth discoloration, your child’s dentist may provide tooth whitening rinses or whitening floss for use at home (11).
6. Dentists also use dental bleach to bleach discolored teeth. This process depends on the colour and the extent of the stain (12).

Natural Remedies for Teeth Whitening for Children

In case the discoloration is mild and not caused by any illness or medical condition, then you can try some at-home treatments or remedies to treat yellow teeth in kids. Let’s try some.

• You may use some baking soda and water to brush your kid’s teeth in order to get rid of tooth discolouration. it is advised to consult your paediatrician first before trying this remedy.
• According to a 2017 research published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series, the citric acid compound of tangerine peel extract is helpful in teeth whitening (13). You can use orange or tangerine peel extract or rub the dried orange peels to whiten the teeth.
• Oil pulling is another remedy of getting rid of harmful germs in the mouth and removing the discoloration. Oil pulling is preferably done with virgin coconut or olive oil. However, there is no evidence for its effectiveness in children (14).
• You can mix salt, lemon peel mash, and baking soda and brush your child’s teeth with this paste to whiten their teeth.

It is crucial to bear in mind that not all home remedies work every time and they may or may suit everyone. So, caution in mixing the ingredients for children should be taken care of parents. The best approach would be cross checking the remedies with the pediatric dentist first and using them is given a yes nod for the remedies.

Tips to Prevent Tooth Discoloration

There are many treatment options available to treat tooth discolouration. However, it is better that you adopt preventive measures beforehand to keep any tooth discolouration at bay.

• You should use the quantity of fluoridated toothpaste as recommended according to the age of the child. More amounts of fluoride may lead to tooth discolouration in children.
• You should start cleaning your kid’s teeth as soon as they appear, which means when he is a baby. You may start cleaning your baby’s teeth with a soft cotton cloth, and then slowly, you should start using a baby brush.
• Do not feed foods which have high sugar content. Foods with more amounts of sugar may lead to dental caries and decay, which in turn may cause discolouration.
• Brushing is a good habit that should be inculcated from an early age. However, parents may worry that their kid may swallow the toothpaste. Therefore, it is important that you teach your kid how to spit out the toothpaste.
• Do not encourage your kid to sleep with a milk bottle at night. Presence of milk and sugar may make the apt environment for the bacteria to harbour in your kid’s mouth.

When to See the Doctor

As soon as you register any sign of tooth discolouration in your kid, it is suggested that you see your doctor. This is because, before you take any measure to treat tooth discolouration, it is important to establish the cause for the same and that only your doctor may be able to establish.

FAQs

The following are some frequently asked questions about tooth discolouration in toddlers and kids that most parents may like to know.

1. Are teeth whitening and bleaching products safe for children?

There are many over the counter teeth whitening and bleaching products available in the market. However, you should not use such products for your kid. These products mostly contain peroxide, which may do more harm than good to your child. It is strictly a big NO to use for milk teeth, and if whitening is required for permanent teeth in children, you should get advice from a dentist.

2. Can pacifiers or thumb sucking cause teeth discoloration in kids?

Pacifiers or thumb sucking do not directly cause teeth discoloration in kids. Instead, they assist in bacteria and plaque buildup in the mouth, which causse cavities and teeth discoloration in children. Many parents dip their child’s pacifier in sugary solution, which causes the bacteria in the mouth to break the sugar and form an acidic environment, causing cavities, enamel erosion, and finally teeth discoloration.

3. What are some good toothpaste to prevent teeth discoloration in kids?

American Dental Association (ADA)- approved toothpaste contains fluoride in recommended, minimal quantities, which helps prevent fluorosis and other dental problems that cause tooth discoloration in children (15).

4. What are the long-term complications of teeth discoloration in kids?

If discolouration of teeth in children is left untreated till teenagehood and adulthood, it can later cause social anxiety or self-esteem issues in individuals due to dental illnesses like cavities, crooked teeth, gingivitis, and more. This leads to a lack of attractiveness or psychosocial appeal (16).

It is important to follow good oral hygiene for your child and if you observe any kind of discolouration, seek professional help at the earliest.

References/Resources:

1. Tooth Discoloration; Cleveland Clinic; https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/10958-tooth-discoloration

2. Manuel. S. T, Abhishek. P, Kundabala. M; Etiology of tooth discoloration- a review; Nigerian Dental Journal; https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ndj/article/view/74347; July – December 2010

3. Oral Health; California Childcare Health Program; https://cchp.ucsf.edu/sites/g/files/tkssra181/f/13_CCHA_OralHealth_012207.pdf

4. Fluoride and Children; Children’s Hopsital of Philadelphia; https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/fluoride-and-children

5. Tooth – abnormal colors; MedlinePlus; https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003065.htm

6. Panchal. S. K; Tooth discoloration after traumatic injury: A diagnostic challenge; Oral Health and Dental Management; https://www.walshmedicalmedia.com/proceedings/tooth-discoloration-after-traumatic-injury-a-diagnostic-challenge-27626.html; 2015

7. Tetracycline; C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital; https://www.mottchildren.org/health-library/d00041a1

8. Kanchan T, Machado M, Rao A, Krishan K, Garg AK. Enamel hypoplasia and its role in identification of individuals: A review of literature. Indian J Dent.; PubMed Central; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4455163/; April-June 2015

9. Baharvand. M; Colors in tooth discoloration: A new classification and literature review; International Journal of Clinical Dentistry; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262294748_Colors_in_tooth_discoloration_A_new_classification_and_literature_review; January 2014

10. Donly. K; Tooth Whitening in Children and Adolescents; Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry; https://www.academia.edu/16438236/TOOTH_WHITENING_IN_CHILDREN_AND_ADOLESCENTS; 2005

11. Demarco. F. F, Meireles. S. S, Masotti. A. S; Over-the-counter whitening agents: a concise review§; Esthetic Dentistry; https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9ff0/9319720de2985981473f305991303e0e9c05.pdf; December 2008

12. Policy on the Use of Dental Bleaching for Child and Adolescent Patients; American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry; https://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_Guidelines/P_Bleaching.pdf; 2023

13. Pratiwi. F, et al.; Citric acid compounds of tangerines peel extract (Citrus reticulata) as potential materials teeth whitening; Journal of Physics: Conference Series; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/824/1/012071/pdf; 2017

14. Saravanan. V, et al.; Effects of Coconut and Olive Oil on Tooth and Restoration – in vitro Study- Myth(oil)ogy?; Medicine, Materials Science; https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Effects-of-Coconut-and-Olive-Oil-on-Tooth-and-%E2%80%93-in-Saravanan-Kumar/0a4faa2999aa2f154f6ffc5695607611e41365ed?p2df; 2018

15. Keeping Your Child’s Teeth Healthy; Nemours KidsHealth; https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/healthy.html

16. Ibiyemi O, Taiwo JO. Psychosocial aspect of anterior tooth discoloration among adolescents in igbo-ora, southwestern Nigeria. Ann Ib Postgrad Med.; PubMed Central; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4111029/; December 2011

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