Children's Teeth

[LeedsRhinos]

Our 7 year old daughter recently had a check up and the dentist told us she needed numerous fillings due to the fact she has soft or crumbling teeth. We were told it is caused by a fever and/or antibiotics at an early age. She had chicken Pox age 3 and a febral convulsion at 18 months but nothing else out of the ordinary. These are her adult teeth so naturally we are very concerned. Has anyone come across this before and shed any more light on the subject? Thank you in advance.

[boobesque]

its very unusual in adult teeth, my little boy was 3 and a half months early and the antibiotics caused his teeth to be soft and the enamel is not covering them fully, but his adult teeth are coming through fine (well his first one, the only one we can see!)

[woofgang]

she may just be unlucky and have poor quality teeth, like my sister.

[ronnie_nz]

Hi, I have noticed the same thing in my 8 year old. She saw the dentist at her yearly visit mid 2005 and she needed 6 fillings. I was horrified and ashamed. 3 were so bad, she had to have them extracted. Thank goodness they were baby teeth. I thought she must be missing something in her diet?? But she was 8 weeks premature and had heaps of things pumped through her body, then a string of colds, ear infections, tonsilitis, bladder infections etc etc through her life, meant loads of antibiotics. But I notice only 4 months after her teeth being extracted, she has another tooth that is crumbling away. Is there anything you have been recommended that can stop this???

[ronnie_nz]

I must add that her adult teeth seem OK for the moment, although not as smooth as some children's at the tips - a little jagged??

[LeedsRhinos]

ronnie are you in New Zealand? It's just that we moved out here 2 years ago and the problem has since been bought to light. with your user name having NZ on the end, there couldn't be Nz connection could there??!!

[ronnie_nz]

Hi, yes I am in NZ. I just was advised that so many NZ kids have sweets, juice, coke etc, so thought yes that's me, bad parenting, give my daughter sweets, coke etc, so my fault ;o(

It has only happened in the last year as she has seen dental nurses before, the year prior she needed 2 shallow fillings, but this year has been a shocker. But as mentioned, only a few months after her surgery, she has another tooth close to the others that were removed, crumbling, a molar. So very worried they might damage the other teeth coming through.

I am finding there are so many different explanations by many different people, it is difficult to make a good choice for our children and we usually only get one shot at it, especially in the case of teeth.

[MrsJo49155]

My son was born 12 years ago with only one kidney working and as a result was on antibiotics from day1 up until he was about 2 1/2 years old. My original dentist said that he may have problems with his teeth due to the lengthy use of antibiotics but another dentist told us that this was not the case - so it seems that even dentists seem to disagree on whether this is the case or not.. my son is now 12 and has healthy second teeth although I must admit I do limit his sugar intake!