White spots on teeth in adults and children: why they appear and how to get rid

A visual defect in the form of white spots on enamel is common in dental practice. White areas may be in the form of spots, flakes or thin longitudinal stripes. May appear on one tooth or affect the entire dentition. Most often, white spots occur on milk teeth in children. The tactics of treatment depend on the cause of the defect.

Why white spots appear on teeth

White spots are not an independent disease, but a symptom of the disease. Most often, they signal the initial stage of caries, lack or excess of fluoride, enamel hypoplasia. Only the dentist can establish the exact cause of the appearance of white spots and prescribe adequate treatment after a thorough examination of the oral cavity.

The initial stage of caries

The beginning of the carious process is indicated by chalky spots on the teeth, which are enamel patches that have lost a healthy shine and become dull as chalk. They appear as a result of demineralization of superficial dental tissues. To the touch, the affected areas of enamel are rougher and softer than healthy ones. Such lesions are characteristic of the lateral surfaces and the cervical region of the teeth. The defect can be cured using the remineralization and fluorination procedures.

Many people decide to postpone a visit to the dentist and observe for one or two months whether the chalky areas on enamel will increase. This approach is fraught with complications. Without proper treatment, the affected areas will become darker, and in less than a year, caries will spread deep into the tooth, which can lead to tooth loss.

Fluorosis (excess fluoride)

Unlike white carious spots, the foci of enamel lesion in fluorosis do not have a smooth round shape and a chalky surface. With an excess of fluoride, white spots in the form of flakes, strokes, stripes, and chalky-mottled patches may appear on the teeth.

Fluorosis develops gradually. First, single white stripes appear on the upper teeth. Gradually they expand, acquiring the shape of spots. If fluorosis occurs in a very young child, spots appear immediately, bypassing the dashed phase. At the third stage of the development of the disease, the spots become brown, brown or yellow. Enamel affected by fluorosis gradually erases, up to the exposure of the dentin layer.

The main causes of fluorosis:

• long-term use of water with a high content of fluoride is the most common cause of the disease;
• abuse of anticariotic pastes;
• activities associated with harmful production.

Fluorosis must be treated under the supervision of a dentist, but before contacting the clinic, all possible sources of fluoride must be eliminated. An excess of fluorine is dangerous not only for enamel, without treatment and elimination of the cause of fluorosis, atherosclerosis and osteoporosis may develop.

Enamel Hypoplasia

In the initial stages of hypoplasia, spots occur on the front teeth, they can be not only white, but also yellow. The surface of the spots is smooth, small dotted recesses may appear on the enamel. Without treatment for hypoplasia, teeth may become deformed. How long ago a violation appeared, the doctor determines by the characteristic localization of the spots.

Types of Hypoplasia

In babies, hypoplasia can develop due to problems that occurred during the period of embryonic development and were caused by toxicosis, birth trauma or a mother’s viral disease.

White spots on the teeth of an older child may indicate a metabolic disorder. In this case, an additional examination is required to exclude somatic and infectious diseases, brain diseases, toxic dyspepsia and rickets.

Why white spots appear on the teeth of a child

In children, white spots on the teeth can have a yellowish or brownish tint. In addition to the described causes of the appearance of white spots on the teeth, which are characteristic of both adults and children, the latter spots may occur due to the influence of such factors:

• Low quality oral cleansing.
• Eating foods and drinks that are high in acid.
• Injury to the jaw, accompanied by chipping enamel of milk teeth.
• Various deviations in the development of the child and childhood diseases.
• Orthodontic treatment, in which the braces prevent the contact of tooth enamel with saliva, which is necessary for the mineralization process. In this case, it is enough for the doctor to properly clean the tooth surface and prescribe regular procedures for cleaning and caring for the enamel for the entire period of orthodontic treatment.
• Past infectious viral diseases.

Children's doctors, including the famous pediatrician Dr. Komarovsky, insist that for teething healthy smooth molars, it is extremely important to preserve milk until the moment of a natural change. Therefore, their treatment should be given due attention. Timely identification of the cause of the appearance of white dots on milk teeth in a child will help to protect not only them, but also future molars from decay.

An experienced pediatric dentist will reliably determine the cause of the lesion, taking into account the localization of the spots, the condition of the enamel at the lesion sites, the age of the child, his living conditions, information about the course of the mother’s pregnancy and family history.

How to get rid of white spots on teeth

You can get rid of a defect in different ways, the treatment regimen depends on the origin of the chalk spots. First, the doctor eliminates the cause of the defect, and then decides on the necessary medical and cosmetic procedures.

Early Caries Treatment

Caries must be combated even if it occurs on milk teeth. Early caries in children and mature people does not require filling and the use of anesthesia, the most beneficial are the procedures for remineralization of enamel, silvering (for babies), simple or deep fluoridation.

The remineralization procedure helps to restore the density of enamel due to the restoration of the mineral composition of the tissues. It is performed in the event that damage arose in connection with the underdevelopment of tooth enamel. The method is based on the use of a micronutrient-rich composition with high absorbency. Depending on the depth of the defect, using remineralization, you can either remove the stain completely, or make it less noticeable.

Fluorosis defect repair

The main method of combating white spots on the teeth, which appeared from excess fluoride, is to limit the intake of substances in the body:

• It is necessary to install a filtration system that will qualitatively purify water from fluoride, or buy bottled water for drinking and cooking.
• It is necessary to remove fluorinated products from the diet, taking into account the body's needs for calcium and magnesium.
• You should start taking vitamin-mineral complexes with a high content of calcium and magnesium.
• You must stop using fluoride pastes and oral care products.

Drug treatment for fluorosis depends on the degree of development of the disease. Spotted, dashed, and chalky forms of the defect are treated with remineralizing therapy.If you do not pay attention to the first points, spots, stripes and start the process, then you can remove white spots on the teeth only with the help of composite materials.

Treatment and prevention of hypoplasia

Enamel hypoplasia is an irreversible process. The goal of her treatment is to slow down the destruction of enamel, it is impossible to completely stop regressive processes in tooth tissues with hypoplasia. The restoration of damaged enamel is cosmetic in nature.

Adults can get rid of white spots on their teeth even with severe hypoplasia, resorting to the help of restoration dentistry or to prosthetics with veneers or cermets. The identification of white spots due to hypoplasia on tooth enamel in young children requires immediate action to protect the dental tissue and preserve milk teeth until the eruption of the permanent. The silvering procedure has proven itself in this matter.