White spots on 2 yo teeth

[niccig]

DS has white spots on his 2 front upper teeth. We use water from sparkletts that has fluoride in it and he has a non-fluoride toothpaste. Is it from too much flouride or something else??? EEkkk did I do the wrong thing by getting fluoridated water??

Nicci

[niccig]

So I find out that kids under 3 should have 0.7 ppm of flouride or less...sparkletts said their flouride has 1 milligram per liter. I don't know how to compare this. Is there too much fluoride for DS?

Thanks...worried now. I'll take him to the dentist as soon as we're back from vacation.

[brittone2]

I *think* white spots can be an early sign of demineralization/tooth decay. I'm sure they can be lots of other things too. DS had one cavity, and the tooth it is on has a white spot near the bottom...hard to see, and only noticeable to me, but I'm pretty sure it can be a sign.

I think fluorosis can also start as white spots, but in more severe cases turns more brownish.

not sure if that helps or not. I think the only way to tell would be for him to see a dentist if he hasn't already.

[niccig]

We'll head off to the dentist as soon as we can. Until then, I won't give him anymore Sparkletts water - I think it is too much fluoride.

[Melanie]

There has been no proof that ingested flouride is beneficial, and many (including myself) find it harmful. If you feel topical flouride is beneficial to his teeth, I'd stick with toothpaste and make sure he knows how to rinse and spit it out afterwards.

I think it's criminal that places like BRU market flouridated water to parents just trying to do the "right thing."

[squimp]

When referring to water samples, ppm and milligrams per L are the same. Milligrams per liter is more accurate because it's telling you the units, while ppm means parts per million. So there's a million milligrams in a liter, so 1 mg of Fluoride per liter is the same as 1 ppm.

So, according to your numbers, whatever sparkletts is has 0.3 mg/L over the recommendation.

(wow all that schoolin' can come in handy every once in a while :P)

[squimp]

Do you already have fluoride in your drinking water? This is a question you should ask your ped - they should know the local water treatment and levels, and then give you guidance.

[kali]

We don't use fluoridated toothpaste or water, just filtered tap water, and DS has these white spots on his front teeth too. FWIW, we just took him to the dentist for the first time and she said the spots are "probably just excess calcification" (whatever that means). She wasn't particularly concerned.

Of course, I admit I'm not totally reassured by this myself...

Kali,
Mom to Sammy, born 7/16/04

[niccig]

Thanks Kali, hopefully my DS's spots are nothing to worry about. I just hate the thought that in trying to do something good for him, I may have done the exact opposite.

[chlobo]

I think the recommendation about flouride recently changed and they no longer recommend that kids "ingest" flouride. So toothpaste is ok but flouridated water is not preferred.