Tetrocycline Makes Teeth Ugly / Susceptibility and Resistance

Dear Dr. Meinig: My child’s teeth have come in very dark grey. Our dentist says it was from medication. Can you enlighten me about it? Will the discoloration go away? – B. W.

 

Dear B. W.: This is usually due to the antibiotic tetracycline, The drug causes a change in tooth and bone growth during the time it is used. Pregnant or nursing mothers, when given such prescriptions, transmit this problem to the baby.

Since 1970 all tetracycline sold in this country included a warning against its use in the last half of pregnancy and in infants and children under eight years of age. In spite of this, a recent report from Tennessee indicated that 55% of prescriptions for tetracycline syrup and 96% of prescriptions for drops were for children under eight.

I don’t think there is that much disregard for the drug here in California. but if you have children under eight years of age and receive such a prescription, I would inquire as to how serious was the need.

The discoloration is often very severe and exists throughout the tooth’s structure. If the drug was used early in the pregnancy quite often only the baby teeth are involved. When the permanent teeth are also affected only porcelain jacket crowns will correct the unsightly appearance.

 

Dear Dr. Meinig: I watched Bob Hope’s 75th birthday show. Does he follow any eating habits that would account for his remarkable vitality? The stress of all that traveling and all those shows has to be difficult. How does he do it? – S. W.

 

Dear S. W.: You are right. A man who spends about half his time in the air and before so much public scrutiny must be doing some things correctly.

I can report that he doesn’t drink or smoke and that golf helps keep him in shape. He tries to play at least nine holes each day even when on the road. At home he has a 190 yard hole and green in his backyard and he is only five minutes from Lakeside Country Club.

Early in life he smoked so much his throat would close over. His mother’s death from cancer and the painfulness of treatment of his throat so he could perform called an abrupt halt to his addiction to the habit. He claims he wouldn’t be alive today had he not stopped smoking. What a loss to the world that would have been.

The only drinking he does is a glass of wine about twice a month. Even on airplane flights he limits his drinks to water.

I don’t know anything about Hope’s eating habits but from the vigor and pleasantness of his personality along with his NO booze or tobacco and plenty of outside exercise we can surmise a well rounded conservative approach to nutrition.

 

Dear Dr. Meinig: My wife always seems to come down with everything that comes along. I am beginning to feel we could do more along the lines of what you say in the newspaper but at the same time I feel there must be some other reason she is so susceptible to all these colds and everything she gets. – S.K.

 

Dear S. K.: Susceptibility and resistance are too often confused as the same thing. While you say your wife is susceptible, others might say she has poor resistance.

In actuality the terms, though used interchangeably to describe the same condition, have quite different meanings when it comes to illness or health, trying to define a resistant agent one must say to it is something that discourages disease. A susceptibility agent, on the other hand, must be one that invites or encourages disease.

In this latter instance sugar, a cause of tooth decay, is obviously a susceptibility agent. Saturated fats, refined and highly processed carbohydrates, cereals and grains, caffeine products, chemical additives, alcohol, smog all may be likewise identified.

On the other hand vitamins, minerals, proteins, essential fatty acids and physical activity, each and all, are resistance factors. In actuality some of these can cancel out some of the bad. For instance, a study of rats showed those receiving vitamin E (resistant agent) and living in a smog-like atmosphere lived twice as long as those not having E. Increases in the susceptibility agent (smog) however canceled out the benefits of vitamin E.

It would appear that how well you or your wife succeed in the matter of health or illness depends a great deal on how successfully you increase or decrease body resistance and susceptibility.