Kids Dentistry

Your wee one’s first set of teeth are precious. So understandably, you might be a little concerned about white spots on those cute little baby teeth. What’s causing these white spots?

In this post, Dr. Paddy and your Denver-area pediatric dental team at Kids Mile High want to equip you with the info you need about white spots on your little one’s teeth. Let’s talk about the top 5 common causes for white spots on baby teeth.  

1. Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

Ok, to be clear, your little one won’t get tooth decay or white spots on their teeth from the actual bottle or sippy cup. Phew! One less thing to worry about as a parent. Instead, “baby bottle tooth decay” refers to getting tooth decay or white spots from bottle or sippy cup habits that prolong the presence of sugar on their teeth. 

How does baby bottle tooth decay happen? If your child falls asleep with their bottle or sippy cup, the sugar in what they’re drinking tends to coat their teeth, causing tooth decay more quickly. For the same reason, tooth decay is more likely to happen from continually drinking milk or a sugary drink without long enough breaks in between. (This goes for everyone actually: babies, kids, and you!) 

You see, when baby teeth come into frequent contact with the sugar in milk or sweet drinks, oral bacteria gets to work feeding on those sugars and produces acids that attack and weaken your child’s tooth enamel. This makes teeth more susceptible to tooth decay and cavities. Breaks from the sippy cup or bottle will allow your baby’s saliva to neutralize the acids and return your child’s enamel from a weakened, softened state to a hardened, durable state.

2. Enamel Hypoplasia

Speaking of enamel, white spots on a baby’s teeth can also happen because of an issue called enamel hypoplasia. This is when tooth enamel is hard enough but too thin to properly protect your child’s soft dentin underneath. Hyperplasia can happen to individual teeth, in certain spots on individual teeth, or less common, on all teeth. The unprotected tooth is then more susceptible to tooth decay and can result in white or brown spots. Kids get enamel hypoplasia because of disruptions in their tooth enamel development — either in utero, early infancy, or early childhood. 

3. Medications

Certain antibiotics can cause white spots to show up on baby teeth. How? By interfering with tooth enamel development when taken during pregnancy or when given to young children. In other words, some medications cause enamel hypoplasia (talked about above) and make your child more susceptible to a baby tooth cavity or tooth decay.

Make sure you let us know about medications your wee one is taking, has taken in the past, or if mom took antibiotics during pregnancy. This info can help us really pinpoint reasons for the white spots on your child’s teeth. 

4. Fluorosis

You’ve likely heard that fluoride is good for strengthening teeth. But when baby teeth are  exposed to too much fluoride through drinking water or toothpaste, this can cause white or brown spots. The good news? Fluorosis isn’t harmful to baby teeth or a child’s overall health; quite the opposite! Teeth with fluorosis are actually more resistant to tooth decay and cavities. Fluorosis is only an aesthetic concern. 

5. Poor Dental Hygiene

If a baby or toddler’s teeth are not cleaned well every day, plaque and bacteria can build up and cause white spots — or even cavities — on teeth. As your Denver pediatric dentists, we can’t say it enough: diligent brushing and flossing is Step One in preventing tooth decay in your little one. And bonus, starting a good oral hygiene routine early and making it fun builds a solid foundation for valuing life-long oral health.

​​Your Denver Area Pediatric Dentists For Happy Smiles

If you notice white spots on your child’s baby’s teeth, come in to see your award-winning pediatric dentists at Kids Mile High. Dr. Paddy, Dr. Roger, and Dr. Meredith are happy to assess your child’s white spots and recommend a plan for your child’s best oral health.

Contact us to make an appointment at one of our fun and friendly offices in Englewood, Central Park, or Thornton, CO. 

Feeling 100% confident about your healthcare providers is nice. Especially when it comes to the doctors and healthcare professionals that treat your kids. Well, you can walk into Kids Mile High with a skip in your step: as your pediatric dentist in the Denver area, we offer you the assurance you need that your kiddos’ smiles are in good hands.

How? Let’s start with the fact that all our doctors are board certified. Yes, that’s right! Each of our pediatric dentists — Dr. Paddy, Dr. Roger, and Dr. Meredith — is a board-certified pediatric dentist. And if your child needs early orthodontics, braces, or Invisalign®, you can rest easy knowing Dr. Scheer is a board certified orthodontist.

So what does being board certified mean for a pediatric dentist?

Simply put, being American board certified is the benchmark standard for excellence in dental care. Being a board-certified pediatric dentist means keeping up-to-date on the latest knowledge, proven, modern techniques, and being able to apply this expertise to treating patients. 

How do you become a board certified pediatric dentist?

Board certification is a voluntary extra step in a dentist’s professional development. In other words, when a person looks into how to become a pediatric dentist, board certification isn’t a requirement. It’s possible to practice pediatric dentistry without being board certified.

But consider this: if you think about how long it takes to become a pediatric dentist, adding board certification is a definite sign you’re really going the extra mile for your patients. And who doesn’t want to take their kids to a pediatric dentist like that? 

To become board certified, your Kids Mile High pediatric dentists successfully passed rigorous exams with the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. And it doesn’t end there: Dr. Paddy, Dr. Roger, and Dr. Meredith must each maintain their status as a board-certified pediatric dentist by ensuring at least 15 hours of continuing education every year. Every 10 years, your Kids Mile High board certified pediatric dentist must also take a recertification exam.

How about being a board-certified orthodontist?

As mentioned earlier, not only do your Denver pediatric dentists at Kids Mile High hold board certifications, but so does Dr. Scheer, our orthodontist. As a dental specialist in orthodontics, Dr. Scheer is board certified not through the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, but through the American Board of Orthodontists (AMO).

Fun fact: Only 1 in 3 orthodontists in America are board certified through the AMO.

Becoming a board certified orthodontist is voluntary and orthodontists like Dr. Scheer must successfully pass AMO’s stringent exams to achieve board certification. Considering it takes 5-10 years to become an American board-certified orthodontist, getting the designation is a big feat. And like his pediatric dentist colleagues, Dr. Scheer has to take a recertification exam every 10 years to maintain his status. 

What does it mean to have a board certified orthodontist looking after your child’s teeth? You can know that your kid receives the highest level of orthodontics, informed by knowledge of the latest orthodontic techniques, technology, and patient care.

Your board certified team in Denver

Four board certified doctors under one roof! Amazing. That’s what you get when your kids come to Kids Mile High for their oral health needs. So if you’re a Denver family and you’ve been thinking, “I need to find the best pediatric dentist near me,” or you’re looking for a star orthodontist, we’ve got you covered. Whether you’re concerned about your kids’ teeth health or wondering about braces, you can trust our board certified doctors to take excellent care of your kiddo’s smile. 

Get in touch with us to find out more about our top-notch, award-winning service. Or visit us in-person to say hello at our offices in Englewood, Central Park, or Thornton, CO. You’ll find a friendly atmosphere that makes expert dental and orthodontic care fun, too.

There’s always something to celebrate at Kids Mile High Pediatric Dentistry. But February is especially fun since it’s National Children’s Dental Health Month by the American Dental Association (ADA). To mark the occasion, the Denver-area pediatric dentists want to share four ideas for celebrating this month’s focus on kids’ dental health.

1. Pick Out Fresh New Dental Supplies

The Kids Mile High Pediatric Dentistry team suggests kids change their toothbrush every 3-4 months. And if the bristles are fraying, that’s a definite sign for a new one. Join in on National Children’s Dental Health Month by getting a new kids’ toothbrush to get young ones extra excited about brushing their teeth. And let them choose their own kid-sized toothbrush — just make sure it’s a soft-bristled one.

Pair a new toothbrush with a new kid-friendly fluoride toothpaste… and don’t forget the dental floss! Kid-friendly floss picks make for easier flossing and water flossers are fun and gentle yet effective.

2. Use Apps and Music To Level Up The Brushing Fun

A bit of entertainment makes at-home oral care for kids more enticing. Play favorite music through Brush DJ to make two minutes of brushing flash by, or use a tooth-brushing app like Chomper Chums or the Disney Magic Timer to turn oral care into an interactive activity.

3. Make The Next (Or First!) Checkup Appointment

Kids should see the dentist every six months. If that half-year mark is coming up, now’s a good time to make the next appointment. And how about a baby’s first dental visit? The American Association of Pediatric Dentistry recommends a child’s first visit happen by their first birthday — or within six months of the first tooth erupting. A first visit sets kids up for good oral habits from the get-go and allows dentists to spot any potential dental or orthodontic issues.

4. Check Out Activities From National Children’s Dental Health Month

The ADA has downloadable activity sheets for home or school. Older kids might like the word games, while younger kids can track their brushing or color the coloring sheet. Dentists, healthcare providers, and teachers can dive into the Program Planning Guide for further oral-care promoting activities.

About Kids Mile High Pediatric Dentistry

Kids Mile High Pediatric Dentistry is an award-winning kids dentist that’s all about offering top-notch pediatric dentistry that’s also fun. Their state-of-the-art offices in Thornton, Central Park, and Englewood, CO are cheerful, colorful, and designed with young patients in mind. From prevention to orthodontics, Kids Mile High Pediatric Dentistry offers everything a family needs to stay on top of their children’s oral care. 

To make an appointment, contact us today!

You’re at the dentist with your little one and the dentist shows you their x-rays. Typically, pediatric dentists like your Kids Mile High doctors will use x-rays to show you where decay may be present, if your child is congenitally missing teeth, or where impacted teeth may be hiding. It’s helpful to see those things on an x-ray since you can’t always see them with the naked eye.

But have you ever wondered what exactly you’re looking at in terms of tooth anatomy? It’s fairly obvious on a dental x-ray that teeth have different layers and are differently shaped. But if you’ve ever wanted to know more, here’s a primer on everything you should know.

In this post, your Denver-area pediatric dentist will cover:

• Teeth 101: Parts of a tooth
• Tooth anatomy: what’s around your tooth
• The different types and names of teeth
• Baby teeth versus permanent teeth

Teeth 101: Parts of a tooth

Let’s start our tooth anatomy lesson with identifying the parts of a tooth. Every one of your child’s teeth — both their baby and permanent teeth — is composed of the same materials. And baby tooth anatomy and adult tooth anatomy are the same, too.

These are the parts of a tooth from the visible part moving into the gums. Every tooth has a:

• Crown: the part you can see above the gumline
• Neck: the part at the gumline between the crown and the root 
• Root: the part you can’t see that sits inside your gums.

And from the outside layer in, here are the parts of a tooth and the function of each: 

Enamel:

This is the outermost layer of your child’s tooth, the part you can see. Enamel is made up of hard, calcified tissue and protects the dentin of the teeth. It takes the burnt of biting and chewing forces, the wear and tear of eating.

Now, you might be surprised to learn that enamel only covers the visible part of every tooth — the crown. The outermost layer of each tooth that’s below the gumline and secured into the gums is called cementum (we’ll talk about that shortly).

Enamel is essentially white in color so if your kiddo’s teeth look a little yellow, this could be because you’re seeing through to their dentin. Fun fact: enamel on baby teeth is thinner than on adult teeth! So in certain lights, your child’s enamel can become a little transparent and you can actually see through it to the yellow dentin underneath.

And did you know? Enamel, just like hair, doesn’t contain any living cells. So it can’t repair on its own if damaged from tooth decay or wear. But a dentist like Dr. Paddy, Dr. Roger, or Dr. Meredith can treat your little one’s enamel to strengthen and protect it from further damage. Like with dental sealants.

Cementum:

This is the outermost layer in the anatomy of a tooth that you can’t see. It’s a hard, calcified connective tissue covering the tooth root below the gumline. As names of teeth go, this one’s easy to remember since “cementum” sounds a little like what it does — it attaches the tooth to the periodontal ligament of the gums. In other words, the cementum layer is the part of your child’s teeth that helps “cement” them to the gums.

Dentin:

If you were to look at a tooth anatomy diagram, the next layer in from enamel and cementum is dentin. It’s a bit softer than enamel and is made up of tiny, microscopic hollow tubules with fluid inside. This fluid has the all-important job of helping transmit senses to the nerves inside the pulp. So when your child eats a popsicle too fast and their teeth hurt, it’s dentin who delivers the news to the nerves… who then send the message to the brain saying, “Woah, that’s cold!”

Pulp:

The innermost part of a tooth is called the pulp. It’s the soft tissue at the center of a tooth and is made up of tissue, nerve endings, and blood vessels. Think of the pulp as  a command center for each tooth: this part of the tooth is responsible for telling your brain when something you eat is too hot, too cold, or too sweet for your teeth. And very important, the pulp provides nourishment to keep your tooth healthy and alive.

And that’s it, the parts of a tooth and what they do: the enamel, cementum, dentin, and pulp. But wait a minute, what about where the teeth live? Let’s talk about that next.

Tooth anatomy: what’s around your tooth

It’s fairly common knowledge that your teeth sit in what’s called your gums. But that whole support system is much more complex than you might think! 

Gums:

Gums are the soft tissue that cover and protect your child’s teeth roots. Cool fact about gums? They hold all your child’s baby teeth right from the beginning. Yes, all 20 of your little one’s primary teeth are hanging out inside the gums right from birth — fully formed and waiting to erupt at the right times. In fact, primary teeth start to form at five weeks’ gestation so they’re ready to go when your baby’s born!

The technical word for gums is “gingiva,” which might sound familiar if you’ve heard of “gingivitis.” The latter is a mild gum disease you definitely don’t want your child to get because it can be painful or cause bleeding. And you want to treat it right away so it doesn’t get worse. Since the gums sit between teeth and your child’s jawbone, severe gum disease can affect both teeth and bone, leading to bone loss, teeth getting loose, or even falling out.

Periodontal Ligaments:

Located inside the gums, periodontal ligaments are collagenous connective tissue fibers that connect your child’s tooth roots to their socket in the jawbone. If your child has orthodontic treatment in the future, periodontal ligaments are part of the teeth system that stretch, helping teeth shift while still keeping them securely in your gums as they move. 

Alveolar bone:

This is the fancy name for the part of your jaw that surrounds all your teeth roots. It’s the part of your child’s jawbone that’s touching their teeth’s roots.

The different types and names of teeth

Now that you know all about tooth anatomy, how about the different types of teeth? For starters, our teeth come in different shapes and sizes, each corresponding to their function.

How many teeth does a child have? Your child’s primary teeth come as a set of 20 teeth, with the same set of 10 teeth in the upper and lower arches. Each of your little one’s jaws has:

• 4 incisors
• 2 canines
• 4 molars

Adult teeth are a bit different. In contrast to how many baby teeth you have, permanent teeth number at 32, with 16 teeth in each of the arches:

• 8 incisors
• 4 canines (cuspids)
• 8 premolars (bicuspids)
• 12 molars (including 4 wisdom teeth)

Incisors:

Located at the front of the mouth, incisors are shaped like small chisels, with sharp edges to help you bite into food and separate it. You typically use your incisors when you want to bite off a small, manageable piece from something large like an apple, sandwich, or piece of pizza.

For kids, incisors are the first teeth to erupt. They’re your child’s cute first teeth that you ooh and aahh over, appearing when your baby is about 6 months old. And no doubt, they’re your introduction to the world of teething! Later on when your kiddo is about 6 to 8 years old, you can expect their primary incisors to fall out and their adult ones to appear.

Canine teeth:

As far as names of teeth go, this one’s pretty descriptive of their look and position in the mouth. Reminiscent of Fido’s fang-like teeth, our canine teeth sit next to our incisors on either side — two canines on each of the top and bottom arches. They’re sharp and pointy, meant for tearing food. 

Baby canines come in when your little one is around 16-20 months, starting with the upper ones. Adult canines erupt in the opposite order: the lower ones come in first around age nine, then the upper ones by the time your child is 11 or 12.

Premolars:

Now this is where we start to have different numbers of teeth between primary teeth and permanent teeth. Baby teeth don’t technically include premolars, only molars. Adult teeth include two pairs of premolars that sit beside the canine teeth on the upper and lower arches, for a total of eight premolars. They erupt when your child is about 10 years old. Premolars are bigger and squarer than canines and incisors with a flat, ridged surface for crushing and grinding your food so you can swallow it.

Molars:

The back of your mouth holds your molars. And when it comes to types of teeth, we can safely say molars are the biggest and strongest of all your teeth. Molars, like premolars, are shaped for crushing and grinding food into pieces that are easier to swallow.

Baby teeth consist of 8 molars, while adult teeth have 12. What’s unique about adult molars is that the last four that should sit at the very back of the mouth take a long time to fully erupt. Called “wisdom teeth,” they show up between 17-25 years old, when you’re “older and wiser.” 

But sometimes they don’t come in at all. If your dental arches don’t have room for them, your wisdom teeth are likely impacted, meaning your erupted teeth are blocking their path. Oftentimes, your dentist will remove your wisdom teeth if they’re stuck in your gums.

Baby teeth versus permanent teeth

We’ve covered the main differences between baby teeth and permanent teeth pretty well. But let’s recap three biggies:

1. Baby teeth eventually fall out, adult teeth are permanent.
2. How many baby teeth? There’s 20. Permanent teeth: 32.
3. We only have premolars with our adult teeth, not with our baby teeth.

Bottom Line:

We say teeth are pretty amazing and a super important part of our bodies. And knowing more about them can inspire you to take better care of them — whether your little one’s baby teeth, or the adult teeth that will soon take their place.

If you’re looking for even more information about your kids’ teeth or have specific questions about their teeth, your Denver-area pediatric dentists are here to help. 

Contact us today for an appointment at our Englewood, Thornton, or Central Park, CO office.