Teeth Problems

[thegirlsmom]

Hi my daughter is getting her 6 year molars in and I just looked at them and they are coming in soft and a brown grey color. Now when I say soft, I mean if I take a fork and rub it on the tooth seems to disintigrate.

Has anyone here seen anything like that? My daugther does not have an official diagnosis of celiac, but I have enough suspicions that she is strickly gluten free and dairy free right now. She has only been Gluten free for the last year though and I know these molars have been in the making for a lot longer than a year.

I am taking her to the dentist as soon as I can get in - they are closed today.

I am a little freaked out about this knowing these are her first permenant teeth. Is this confirmation of Celiac? and is there anything I need to be doing for her now or is too late for her teeth?

FYI - my kids rarely get juice and she always brushes her teeth well ( or I do ).

thanks

[rosetapper23]

My mother, son, and I all have celiac disease. One thing that we all have in common is that our tooth buds did not form properly in utero. Our dentist explained this to us, and he said that this caused our molars to disintegrate from the inside out. I thought I could "fix" the situation with my son and had his molars bonded at the very moment they cleared his gums. When he developed cavities in these very same molars, I complained to his pediatric dentist, saying that the bonding apparently didn't hold. He assured me that the bonding wasn't the problem--he said that there was something congenitally wrong with my son's teeth. That's when I began taking him to my own dentist, who concluded that my mother, son, and I all had some type of inherited auto-immune disease that caused the tooth buds to form improperly in utero. Unfortunately, my dentist retired 10 years ago, so I was never able to inform him that it turned out that he was right. All of us have celiac, and that is the reason for our disintegrating teeth. I'm missing two of my upper molars, which shattered so badly, they had to be pulled...and the rest all have crowns (and many of them had root canals, too). My teeth continue to shatter--I usually break 1-3 teeth per year, even though I'm very careful.

Thankfully, I have great dental insurance--otherwise, I'd be working just to pay the dentist.

[megsybeth]

I had to have my teeth capped as a child, horrible silver metal caps. They said it was milk rot but I now think it was the celiac. My son, with celiac, has bad staining on his teeth and weakness from the time they've come in. Good luck for your daughter!

[thegirlsmom]

So today I took her to the dr because I suspected a uti. Well it turns out I was right - but not only did they find that she had a uti, but also an ear infection and pink eye! I just don't understand how this could be since she has just recently been on antibiotics for a double ear infection. She has always been a fairly healthy child. When we got home she informed me that she had bad D.

I am trying not to let this upset me but it is freaking me out a bit.

Thanks for your help.

[1desperateladysaved]

Well, I had had undiagnosed celiac for sometime before my first child was born. I had 5 children, which are all between 24 and 15.. Each one has good teeth. There must be more to it then just undiagnosed celiac. My son's dentist told him that he had inherited good teeth, but both my husband and I have had troubles. I thought I needed to post this, so mother's don't get to fretting about this too much. It might be your trouble, but it might not.

[rosetapper23]

Remember, celiac can be triggered at any time. It appears that in my family we tend to be born with the disease already active. For instance, I was born with Rickets, which indicated a Vitamin D deficiency--I believe I was probably deficient for my entire life. I wasn't diagnosed with celiac until I was 47, and I only recently (at age 55) found a Vitamin D product that I can absorb well.

You might check your child's Vitamin D level--if it's low, she can end up with infections very easily. My entire childhood was rampant with infections and viruses--every kind (UTIs, strep, ear infections, tooth infections--you name it!). If she needs to take Vitamin D, the only product that works for me is Country Life Natural Vitamin D. It contains Vitamin A, as well, since every cell has two receptors for A for every receptor of D. It also contains medium-chain triglycerides, which help people with celiac absorb both the A and D. This product was recommended by a speaker at a recent celiac conference in Seattle, and, believe it or not, it only contains 400 iu's of Vitamin D, which your daughter's pediatrician would be fine with.

[cworth02190]

My daughter was diagnoised when she was 2yr old and her teeth went in the same way they said it was because she wasnt getting enough Calcium and her body was taking the calcuim for her teeth and bones.

She ended up getting her baby teeth takin out, but since i got her diet under control and gave her extra calcium supplements to get her back to normal. the good thin is her big teeth have came through all ok

[Cara in Boston]

I just wanted to add:

Don't be surprised if your dentist knows NOTHING about Celiac Disease. When my younger son was diagnosed 2 years ago, I immediately suspected my older son had it too, based on his discolored teeth. Over the years, the doctors noticed the discoloration, but no one ever figured out a cause. Our pediatric dentist had never even heard of the connection between teeth and celiac.

Anyway, his blood tests were negative, he had ZERO other symptoms, but based on the teeth alone, our Celiac doctor was concerned enough to do an endoscopy. It was negative too. I was told to watch him and bring him in again if he shows any symptoms. If there are no symptoms, he is to get re-tested every two years.

It will be difficult to have your daughter tested for celiac after being gluten free for a year.

Good luck to you.

Cara

[rosetapper23]

If your dentist is unaware of celiac, there are informational handouts available through various resources. I know that the Gluten Intolerance Group of North Americas has such a handout. Their website is www.gluten.net.

[Roda]

My youngest son's 6 year molars are just like you described. Just the bottom two though. He has fillings in both of them because he got cavities (one came in with a cavity already there) because of the the enamal defects. He cut the bottom two several months after he turned 6, the one top one when he was 7 and is just now cutting his last one at age 8. This last one is VERY delayed coming in. He was diagnosed just before he turned 6 when he was in kindergarden. However, in hindsite based on his issues as a baby, I think he has been celiac since he was an infant. The dentist and I believe his enamal issues are from the undiagnosed celiac(his testing was negative at 3 years old after I was diagnosed so he continued on a regular diet) and him taking a lot of antibiotics as a baby.

He has lost only two teeth, his bottom front incisors, and the permanant teeth look fine and are healthy thank goodness.

[thegirlsmom]

Thank you for all your replies. I just wanted to send an update to my question. It is now 3 1/2 months after my dd 6year molars emerged. When I took her to the dentist in Dec. they sealed the tooth and told me I had no worries. It just looked funny and it would be just as strong as any other tooth. Unfortunately it has been causing her pain and we found out today that, just as I suspected the tooth was chipping off and the inner tooth was exposed and decaying. The dr. seemed very surprised. He filled the tooth and told me,again, not to worry, this tooth should be fine and normal. Honestly, I don't really believe what he said, and I am going to try to supplement her with some things that MAY help strengthen all her teeth.