teeth going bad

[jesselane0206]

I dont know if anyone else has had this problem but I thought I would write and see. My 4 year old son was born with a cleft lip and palate. I will admit that he didnt get off the bottle til he was a year old so maybe that has something to do with this but now all of this teeth are going bad. He already had the top front teeth pulled and all his back teeth have caps on them. But now his bottom front teeth have started to turn brown. I dont understand it because I brush his teeth every morning and every night and he gets them brushed twice a day in school. He just went to have them cleaned on 12/19 and they were fine then. The dentist (not the one who did all the other work) tried to tell me that I dont know how to brush his teeth, well then I guess neither do the people in school. But yeah like I said they were fine on the 19th but now I have noticed that they are starting to turn brown. I have had a few people tell me this goes with clefts sometimes but Im not sure. Please let me know if any of you know anything about this.

[pkett2]

Have you thought about any medications he was ever on or you? I know some, not many though will cause permanent damage to their teeth.
Just a thought!

[jesselane0206]

I never thought about that but honestly I cant think of any medications he has ever been on besides antibiotics and then the pain meds after surgery. I have to think about it some more..maybe that's whats wrong. Thanks for the idea...

[lynn81]

i agree i have been told that kids cleft or no cleft... the more antibiotics they are on it does bad things to there teeth over time. my kadyns teeth arent brown but they are not as white as my other boys... he has had many ear infections and so has had many different antibiotics. even when my husband was little he had a lot of antibiotics and the dentist told my mother in law that that was the reason his teeth turned out to be not the best.
hope this helps
lynn

[Cindy Hecker]

Some people just have bad teeth...it can be low enamel or something. It does not necessarily have to do with the cleft or how you care for the teeth.

Cindy

[gregory]

I have not found any research proving an association between cleft lip and/or palate and developmentally deficient teeth.

My observation is that my oldest son (now 10 years old) who was born with a Pierre Robin Sequence (PRS)--a condition manifested through cleft palate, underdeveloped lower mandible (submaxilla), and a regular or larger tongue--makes a lot more frequent visits to the dentist's than my other three.

We also had to remove his front teeth replacing them with caps at his third year of age. It was a matter that did not seem to be directly related to his condition since the corrective surgeries were concluded with resounding success when he was less than one month old (early intervention).

Though his dental surgeon did not conclude to any form of relationship to his condition, he did not rule out the possibility of developmental causes.

Every condition is different of course, but I am almost convinced that my son's increased frequency of visits to the dentist is related to his condition.

Regards,
Gregory (father 10 yoB born with PRS)