[Rissa812]

My son is 9 months old and has 8 teeth. He has had his 4 front teeth since he was 2-3 months olds. I started him on a cup a few days ago, because I feel it is time to take away the bottle. Yesterday when he smiled I noticed 2 of his teeth weren't pearly white. I asked the nurse, (we were at my daughter's pediatrician appt.) and she said it looks like decay. How is this possible? I have been so careful with my kids teeth, it shouldn't have happened. My daughter was on the bottle until about 10 months, and she has no problems. I also found out yesterday that there is sugar in formula. Ohh, and I do not give him juice, only water and formula.
Any suggestions? I bought baby teeth and gum cleaner, but what now?
Please Help!!!

[Alejandros Mommy]

Just keep on brushing..I've been cleaning Aiden's gums since he was newborn and I have brushed his teeth since he got them at 5mnths....If you are concerned tke him to the dentist...they can give you some helpful advice

[mama2riley]

Here is a short article about your concern. Sounds like that's what it might be, but it lists a few other causes of tooth discoloration as well. It also says that their adult teeth should come in just fine regardless of this. You may want to look into taking him to a pediatic dentist just to get it checked out.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/baby-teeth/AN01056

[burfield1mom]

Be really careful with baby cleaner and make sure that if it has fluoride that your baby does not consume to much of this. While it could be decay it is most unlikely. if you are truly concerned about it then there are pediatric dentist. Most of the time they don't recommend that you take a child to one until they are around 2y/o. I had noticed that one of my son's teeth looked black, when I asked the dentist about this he told me that baby teeth are more transparent than adult teeth therefore making them appear dark. Baby teeth also have a shallower root than adult because they are not permanent and it would hurt like crazy when it's time to loose them. So if they bump a tooth they can actually end up w/ a little bruise in the root of thier tooth. If you start to notice spots on his teeth it could be that he is getting to much fluoride and once this happens you cannot reverse the effects. Also you may want to look at your families teeth and see if their teeth have spots or speckles on them it could be hereditary.

[Alejandros Mommy]

Oh BTW did I mention you can get a flouride free toddler tooth paste? That's what I get for Aiden.... I should have posted that in my OP

[mama2riley]

Yeah we use the Grin's and Giggles toddler toothpaste with riley and it is flouride free.

[froggles_fi]

sometimes its due to the early arrival of teeth...

[Rissa812]

Thank you everyone. The tooth and gum cleaner is made by oral b and is flouride free. Maybe it is me being too paranoid, but I am worried. I will give the dentist a call. It wouldn't hurt. Thanks again Ladies!!

[Rissa812]

Originally Posted by froggles_fi

sometimes its due to the early arrival of teeth...

I also think this is true. My daughter did not get her first teeth until about 7 months maybe later.

[twinzplus3]

I am actually about to write a few articles on tooth decay in babies. Just to start off, formula has to have sugar in it. It is made to mimic breastmilk and breastmilk has sugar in it. It is not bad for babies to have that sugar. . .in fact they need it. So don't worry about the sugar in formula.

I am assuming because you said you were really careful that you brushed his gums, never let him go to bed with a bottle, etc., etc. I am also assuming that these are his front teeth? (Baby bottle tooth decay usually happens in the back teeth). Unfortunately, some babies teeth enamel is weak and is just not what it should be. There's no way to know whether or not your baby is like this and there is really very little you could've done to prevent it w/o knowing that he would be like this. (Does that make sense? So if you had brushed his gums after every single bottle it probably wouldn't have happened but I don't know any mother who does that.) When I write my articles I will post links for you.

I highly recommend taking him to a pediatric dentist. He may well need surgery to remove his teeth before the rotting seriously affects his gums.