My DD's two front teeth are turning grey. I noticed it a few days ago, and they are getting darker by the day. She is aged 3 and 3/4.

I asked her if she remembers knocking her front teeth, and she said that her twin brother ran into her. (Most likely!) She is at daycare each day, and I did not get an accident report from them, so it could have happened at home. The twins trip over their own shadows - they are so clumsy, so anything could have happened.

Will they lighten up, or get darker, or remain grey until her adult teeth come in? Should I be taking her to a dental nurse or something? She doesn't seem bothered by them. No pain or anything.

Could the grey tones be due to something else such as medicines perhaps?

oooh yeah I would take her to the dental nurse sooner rather than later...as they might be able to save them - itd be hard to say exactly whats wrong, and i guess it could possibly be from something else?? has she pulled/chewed too hard on candy over xmas??? and bruised/damaged her teeth? tender at all if you do a gentle wiggle/gentle touch of them?

DS had a bit of a knock on his front tooth-which neither me or him could remember-it wasn't very obvious at all until the dental nurse pointed it out at a cheekup it got a bit of a grey shadow on it...but didnt get any worse and even then the dental nurse ummed and arred about taking it out (as can damage the adult teeth) -i was mortified as other than that he had perrrfect teeth (im so glad she didn't as he's still got the tooth now at 8yrs and no sign of adult teeth in the front yet - so would've bn gappy for a good 4yrs or so eeek) .

Thanks Cadiam. Nope to the pulling or chewing candy.

Gee, where am I going to find a child's dental nurse at this time of year??

one of my DS's had a front tooth go grey after a hard knock. I took him to the dentist (just my normal one) and he took an x-ray. he said it was 50/50 as to whether it would survive but to leave it for now and if it got more and more grey/black then bring him back. We filled in the ACC form at the same time so that was covered too.

Luckily for us his turned back white again after a number of months.

Our DD had a big fall at daycare at around 2yrs and put her front tooth thru her bottom lip. Over the years it slowly changed colour, not grey tho but a weird yellowy grey colour. The dental nurse had a look at it & said cause its a baby tooth it should be fine. I would still take your DD to the dental nurse though it would probably be just a simple checkup for her to see if its worth examining further

I'd call the Regional Dental services and see if there are any dental nurses doing work around your area. DD2 has been given an appointment for the 12th of Jan so they are likely to be working after the public holidays.

I'd definitely get it checked out. It could be that its sustained damage somehow and might right itself, but they can take an x-ray and see what is happening and advise you whether the tooth needs to be removed or not.

DS knocked out one tooth and damaged the ligaments in another a couple of years ago. The dentist at the time said that if they other tooth changed colour then it could mean it was damaged permanently but luckily it never did. We still did an ACC form just in case his permanent teeth were affected by the knock. Although if you are not sure how it happened then it might be hard to do an ACC form, but I am sure the dental nurse could advise you.

If you can't find a dental nurse, I'd just try a local dentist. We took DS to one when he knocked his teeth out (we were able to get in there right away as it was next to the A&E we took him to) and it wasn't a major issue and he was 4.

I managed to get an appt at a White Cross dental clinic this morning. They just examined her mouth and gums for any sign of swelling or broken skin on the gums, a pimple (abcess) etc. She has none of these, and the teeth aren't loose. DD too small to do an xray, (so they took a photo instead) They said to just watch her teeth and mouth and if any significant change to bring her back. Could stay that grey colour until they fall out when she is older, say 8.

All of what they said is exactly what Twitch said in her post. We did an ACC form as well.

My first two have both got/had grey front teeth! Sigh. One of them abcessed about 18 months after the initial knock and had to be pulled out. The other child still has his grey one. He also has a gap. He knocked his out and fractured his jaw falling off a swing.

You just have to watch for abcess. It is really painful and needs urgent treatment/pulling out. Can happen years later or never.

I just came on to ask the exact same question! I noticed yesterday that DD's front tooth is going slightly grey. She's also 3.5 years and only recently been to the dentist. I don't know if she has knocked it and it's not sore....we are leaving NZ in under 3 weeks so I guess I will just have to keep an eye on it and hope it doesn't get worse

Our DD was the same at about 2years we noticed her front tooth was turning grey when we picked her up from daycare. Noone noticed so not sure if it was knocked or something. Took her to the afterhours dentist and he took an xray said that this is common for a knock etc. Looks like its dead, try and keep it there as long as possible watch out for any signs of abscess come back and see us in 6 months.
Well check up came and it had resolved. Not perfectly white but not grey anymore. Dentist said it could of just been damaged blood vessels into the tooth.
Have also been to our local Dental Clinic for her first checkup under the kids free system. All good there.

Update:

One of her teeth has now returned back to white :-)
The other has faded a bit, and we are watching it closely.

Yay - that's great news kiwiangel!

DD's front tooth faded back to white within days of me posting about hers. Weird! But very pleased!

Just wanted to update this as the latest news is not good. DD tooth is still grey. I mentioned it to my dentist when I visited a month ago. He strongly recommended that I get his colleague a paediatric dentist to take a look at it, which she did this afternoon.

The tooth has developed an abcess ]. Needs a root canal under a general anaestethic costing around $2,000. 60% success rate. If the root canal fails they will remove the tooth. The other option is to just remove the tooth and don't worry about the root canal. Thankfully its her baby teeth. She is just turning 4 next week.

Ouch! ouch! ouch!

Ouch! I'd probably just get the tooth removed. DS knocked his front tooth out two years ago when he was four. Its still not grown back but he started to lose his teeth so hopefully it'll start soon.

It sounds like a huge amount of work for a root canal and pretty distressing unless they do it under full sedation?

I think I would look at removing it too, especially as it will be coming out eventually anyway. And it seems less invasive than root canal. I know that Cala's boy lost his tooth in an accident, I wonder if she would reccomend it - will bring this to her attention.

If the dentist remove it can they put a spacer to keep the gap there for when her new teeth come through? I have seen lots of young kids who have lost their teeth early through a bang or whatever, so if it was me I would probably pull it, as it is going to fall out eventually anyway.

as Felicis said, my son had an accident when he was 2 and and 2 of his front teeth abscessed, and were removed. It was under a General anesthetic, through the hospital and didn't cost us a cent. It was very smooth and easy. There haven't been any negatives to having that done - we get teh odd comment from peopel who think he has lost teeth already, and he has a lovely gapey grin.

I would probably get it pulled, the thought of a root canal makes me shudder, I assume they would anaethatise for that too??? but the pain with recovery is pretty bad too I think (well I had a deep filling a few weeks ago and my mouth was sore for a week!) and especially since it is a baby tooth!

DS had 2 removed 2 years ago, the gap is definitely still as big, this was never offered or suggested by anyone we have seen, then or since

My ds knocked both of his front teeth out about 4-5 months ago, root and all and has no problem healing etc, gap still the same as if they were there.

Same. DS's gap looks the same as it always has and there was no suggestion that he'd need a spacer.

I think spacers are put in when adult teeth are coming through to help leave space for other teeth that haven't emerged? But I could be wrong.