White spots on newborn gums

Symptoms, Pictures, Causes, and Treatment

What are Epstein pearls?

If your infant has a small white or yellow-tinted bump on their gum line or the roof of their mouth, it’s likely an Epstein pearl. This is a type of gingival cyst that affects newborns.

Epstein pearls are fairly common, occurring in 60 to 85 percent of newborns. They’re also more common in babies who:

are born to older mothers
are born past their due dates
have a higher birth weight

While Epstein pearls might look unusual, they’re harmless. Read on to learn more about Epstein pearls, including whether they can occur in adults.

What are the symptoms of Epstein pearls?

Epstein pearls don’t cause any symptoms beyond their appearance. You’ll likely notice them along the gums or roof your baby’s mouth. Epstein pearls look like whitish-yellow nodules, about 1 to 3 millimeters in size. They sometimes appear similar to incoming teeth.

What do Epstein pearls look like?

Can adults have Epstein pearls?

Epstein pearls only occur in newborn babies. But adults can develop a dental cyst that looks similar to an Epstein pearl.

Such cysts in adults often form near the roots of dead or buried teeth. They usually don’t cause any symptoms unless they become infected. When this happens, you might feel pain and swelling around the cyst.

Dental cysts sometimes grow over time. If they grow large enough, they might put pressure on your teeth, leading to jaw weakness.

This type of cyst can be removed through a straightforward surgical procedure. Your doctor can also remove any dead root tissue, which will reduce the chances of the cyst coming back.

Learn more about what might be causing a bump on your gums.

What causes Epstein pearls?

Epstein pearls happen when the skin of a baby’s mouth becomes trapped during the development process. As the mouth continues to develop and take shape, this trapped skin can fill with keratin, a protein found in skin. The keratin is what makes up the inside of an Epstein pearl.

These bumps develop in the womb and aren’t preventable. If your child was born with Epstein pearls, it’s not a sign of anything you did or didn’t do during pregnancy.

Do Epstein pearls warrant a visit to the doctor?

Epstein pearls are harmless. But if your baby is showing signs of pain or irritability, it may be a good idea to follow up with their doctor. Epstein pearls are very common, so their doctor will likely be able to identify these bumps just by their appearance.

Depending on your baby’s symptoms, their doctor might examine their mouth to check for signs of natal teeth. These are teeth that some babies are born with. They’re pretty rare, but they can look very similar to Epstein pearls.

Their doctor might also want to rule out oral thrush. This is a type of yeast infection that can cause small white bumps or a white coating in your baby’s mouth.

Epstein pearls tend to go away on their own within a few weeks after birth, but may persist for several months. If you’re still noticing the bumps after several weeks and they don’t seem to be getting any smaller, make a doctor’s appointment to make sure the bumps aren’t the result of something else.

Are Epstein pearls treatable?

Epstein pearls don’t require any kind of treatment. In many cases, they’ll disappear on their own within a week or two of birth. The friction in your baby’s mouth from breastfeeding, bottle feeding, or using a pacifier helps to quickly break down and dissolve the bump.

What’s the outlook?

Epstein pearls can look alarming to new parents, but they’re harmless. They usually dissolve on their own a week or two after birth.

Epstein pearls shouldn’t cause any pain, so if your baby is showing signs of discomfort, there may be something else going on. In that case, you should contact your baby’s doctor.

Epstein Pearls: Benign but Bothersome

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Epstein pearls have become a common name for white bumps in your baby’s mouth. They can be deceiving since they resemble brand new baby teeth. Epstein pearls are like a benign form of acne but they occur in the mouth. They are completely harmless and will eventually take care of themselves, so don't worry about them affecting your baby's health.

What Do Epstein Pearls Look Like?

Epstein pearls look like white bumps underneath the skin. They are opaque whitish-yellow cysts or lesions that can form on your baby’s gums or the roof of their mouth. ‌

Epstein pearls are small, typically less than a few millimeters in diameter. They should not get bigger over time. If you noticed the bumps in your baby’s mouth getting bigger, you should call your doctor.

Epstein pearls can appear as a single cyst or in groups of two to six lesions. Their development and placement seems to be random, but neither is worse than the other. ‌

What tends to concern parents is a single Epstein pearl on the gums. It can often look like a baby tooth breaking through the gum. Since Epstein pearls are firm to the touch, it can be hard to tell the difference.

Epstein pearls are otherwise asymptomatic. They’re benign and cause no problems with feeding or teething. If your baby seems to experience any discomfort, they should be taken to a doctor.

What Causes Epstein Pearls?

Epstein pearls are quite common in newborns. Around 80% of newborns will have Epstein pearls. They usually don’t develop them after 3 months old. ‌

Epstein pearls are caused by a build-up of keratin in the soft and hard palates. Keratin is the material your hair and nails are made of. They're similar to milia on the face, which are a harmless build-up of skin cells. ‌

There’s no clear cause for this. It’s theorized that tissues get trapped during gestation when the palate develops. Then, the Epstein pearls appear under the skin of the mouth after birth.

How Are Epstein Pearls Diagnosed?

Your doctor will perform a simple physical exam of your baby’s mouth to confirm the white bumps aren’t new teeth. While they can typically diagnose Epstein pearls during a physical exam, certain symptoms may suggest another condition.

Bohn nodules. These cysts appear on the roof of the mouth on the ridge just behind the front teeth. These are lesions on mucous glands and are typically grayish-white.

Dental lamina cysts. These lesions are very similar to Epstein pearls. They are typically more transparent and slightly bigger, but they are similarly benign and fade after a short time. ‌

Congenital epulis. This rare condition is categorized by a benign tumor. This type of tumor is attached to the tissue via a stem-like appendage. For an unknown reason, they are ten times as likely to form in infant girls than boys.

This growth can cause complications with eating and breathing. Surgical removal is required, but it’s highly unlikely that congenital epulis will return.

How Do You Treat Epstein Pearls?

Epstein pearls clear up on their own within a few weeks and up to three months. They typically fade away or rupture, releasing the backed-up keratin. ‌

Even though they will rupture eventually, you should never attempt to speed up the process and rupture an Epstein pearl yourself. This can lead to irritation, infection, and inflammation. Your doctor won’t attempt to remove them either, as medical intervention for an Epstein pearl is unnecessary stress to put on your baby for this condition. Again, this growth will not affect your baby's health or ability to feed, so just allow them to heal on their own.

White spots on the gums of a baby - Causes and methods of treatment of white spots on the gums of a child

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Causes
Bon's nodules
Epstein's nodules
Diagnostics
Treatment
Prophylaxis

A newborn baby has a delicate and fragile body. Therefore, parents should closely monitor all the changes that occur in the first years of a toddler's life. Any rash in attentive parents causes concern. And it is right! After all, even a harmless pimple can harm a fragile body. Therefore, the child's mouth should be examined frequently. If white dots appear on the gums of the baby, it should immediately be shown to the pediatrician and dentist.

Please note! When an infant has healthy oral tissues, they are smooth with a pale pink color. There are no swelling and cracks on them.

Young mothers should be especially careful in order to respond to the problem in time and prevent complications. You need to make sure that the whitish spots are not formed from the remnants of breast milk. To do this, it is necessary to examine the mouth of the child before feeding, as well as after eating. If the plaque appeared after breast sucking or spitting up, you should not worry. These effects will pass on their own. Residues are easily removed with a sterile wet bandage.

Causes of appearance

Any disease can undermine the immune system, which negatively affects the condition of the oral cavity. The cause of spots, plaque, bubbles may be:

Poor hygiene, even when there are no milk units yet. On soft tissues, particles of fruit puree, milk, mixtures remain, where pathogenic bacteria multiply. Therefore, the mouth of the little one should be cleaned regularly from food debris.
In an unbalanced diet. If mother's milk contains useful vitamins and minerals, then it is more difficult to do this with artificial feeding. In addition, mother's milk will then be useful when the parent herself has a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
In the development of periodontitis, when a scattering of whitish bubbles appears in the mouth.

If the baby's mouth is affected, it must be seen by a doctor. A dental clinic in St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg) is a medical institution where provoking factors will be identified and a patient treatment regimen will be developed. It is important that parents contact a pediatric dentist in time. This is the only way to prevent serious complications. Mucosal damage can have a different origin.

Bon's nodules

This is the most common cause of the problem. Lesions are compact brushes formed:

from residual layers of salivary gland tissues;
from a ligament that acts as a dental plate;

It happens that parents confuse formations with congenital masticatory organs. But, they differ in form. The nodules look like balls resembling pearl beads. There may be several of them, they are single. They do not bring discomfort to children. Such rashes disappear on their own after a while.

Epstein's nodules

Bon's balls are sometimes confused with Epstein's disease. In fact, these are different types of cysts. The lesion occurs in 80 percent of babies. Such a white dot on the gums of the baby is formed from epithelial tissues. Balls can also be located at the junction of the palatine plates. These cysts are safe for children. Their resorption occurs independently.

Neonatal teeth

Congenital or neonatal units may appear as whitish spots on an infant. With the first, children are born, and the second erupt in the first month of life. Attentive parents cannot fail to notice this. The baby in such a situation should be shown to the doctor. Usually, these units are part of temporary teeth. Sometimes it happens that organs appear in excess of completeness. Such additional rudiments are to be removed. This will ensure the normal growth of the rest of the teeth, preventing crowding. Both neonatal and congenital chewing organs can be loose. Mobile units are torn out to avoid aspiration.

Milk teeth

Before a temporary tooth comes out, a white dot appears on the gums of a child at 5 months. Such a picture can be seen even earlier, since sometimes a dense tubercle rises above the gum at four, even three months. Early eruption of masticatory organs is influenced by:

genetics;
features of metabolic processes;
food;
baby's living conditions;

Early growth of the masticatory organs is not a cause for concern. When a whitish bump appears, it is better to show the child to the doctor. If the dentist does not find extra ones, no action is needed.

Candidiasis of the oral mucosa

Inflammation of the gums in a child is caused by thrush. Curd fungal stains destroy the soft tissues of the oral cavity. Provoking factors:

Low immunity;
Diabetes mellitus;
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
Endocrine diseases;
Anemia;
Hepatitis;

Candidiasis appears on the background of long-term use of antibiotics. The milk film is located on the tongue, gum tissues, lips, corners of the mouth. At an early stage, the film is thin, then it coarsens, ulcers appear under it, which can bleed. To prevent complications, it is necessary to visit the dentist on time.

Stomatitis of various etiologies

The mucous membrane of the mouth becomes inflamed during stomatitis. Whitish spots are located on the inner sides of the cheeks, on the gum tissue. Without therapeutic measures, painful sores will quickly appear. In such children, restless behavior is noted, the temperature rises, appetite disappears, and sleep is disturbed. The disease can be:

Viral, when it occurs against the background of influenza, chickenpox, bronchitis and other diseases;
Allergic, if the baby develops asthma, atopic dermatitis appears;
Bacterial, when the little one catches some kind of infection, for example, a fungal one;

Purulent cyst

A white spot on a child's gums may indicate the development of cysts. They look like beads. Occur on the background of infection of the body. Education with purulent contents is detected on x-ray. Most often, the disease is caused by bacteria that penetrate the masticatory organs or soft tissues. This happens with complicated caries. When the accumulated pus begins to exit, swelling appears. If you do not visit a pediatric dentist on time, pus accumulates, then the abscess breaks, a fistula appears in the little one. Do not ignore the rash in the child's mouth! Contact your doctor promptly!

Lipoma and leukoplakia

With leukoplakia, keratinization of the mucous membrane is noted. This process is influenced by such irritants:

sharp edges of affected teeth;
hanging uneven fillings;
hot and spicy food;
malocclusion;
ill-fitting dentures;
crowns of various materials;

With this disease, whitish plaques are with clearly defined edges or blurred. There is no discomfort. The rashes can be rough, cracks and ulcers appear. The doctor will take a sample of this tissue to send it for a biopsy. Often the formation turns out to be a harmless lipoma, that is, a wen. It requires medical supervision. It is important that its size does not increase.

Diagnostics

To make a correct diagnosis, the doctor uses knowledge, experience, and modern diagnostic technologies. According to the results of examinations, it is possible to accurately determine the nature of the rash. The diagnosis is confirmed by X-ray. An important role is played by visual inspection, as well as the results of plaque scraping. It is strictly contraindicated for mothers to self-medicate. Of course, parents must have the necessary knowledge in order not to miss a serious illness of a toddler.

Treatment of white spots on the gums

The first thing parents should do is visit a pediatrician. If necessary, the child will be referred to the dentist. Pediatric dentistry is a department where the factors that provoked the disease will be determined. In accordance with the age, the doctor will carry out therapeutic measures.

In case of improper hygiene, the mother will receive professional advice.
When pimples are the result of vitamin deficiency, the nutrition of mother and child is corrected. Sufficient fluid should be consumed.
Congenital masticatory organs, if movable, are removed.
Pathological diseases are treated with modern methods.
Toddler should be protected from anxiety and stress.
Stomatitis is treated with antiseptics, such as Miramistin. The drug is prescribed by a doctor.
Candida is treated with drugs such as Flucostat. The baby's mouth is treated with chlorhexidine.
With a lack of calcium, the necessary minerals are prescribed.

Do not pop bubbles yourself. The gum tissue may be damaged. After all, with such a procedure, an infection is easily introduced.

Prevention

In order to prevent the occurrence of pathology, preventive measures should be taken.

The baby's mouth should be cleaned after any meal, rinsed with boiled water.
Mother and child should have a balanced diet.
It is necessary to protect the baby from kissing people who have diseased gums, from traumatic games, from chewing objects with sharp edges.
Soothers, toys, bottles must be perfectly clean, like the hands of a toddler.
See your dentist regularly for preventive check-ups.
The child must use a separate towel and utensils.

White dots on gums in babies

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Home Articles White dots on the gums in babies

A white dot on a child's gums as a harmless symptom

In case of any changes in the oral cavity of the crumbs, it is necessary to contact a pediatric dentist. At a doctor's appointment, you can be relieved to find out that white spots in the baby's mouth are a completely safe phenomenon. Possible diagnoses include:

Bohn's nodules are white lesions that often appear on the gums of newborns. In fact, they are cysts, but they do not pose a danger to the child and eventually go away on their own. Sometimes parents mistake them for teething teeth;
Epstein's pearls - specks similar to Bon's nodules, but localized in the sky. Pearl oyster also does not require treatment and goes away on its own.

White spot as a sign of teething

While most babies have their first teeth only at six months, some babies start teething as early as the first weeks after birth or even before birth. In the first case, such teeth are called neonatal, in the second - natal. When a tooth erupts in a baby, a white spot can be seen on the surface of its gums.

In case of early teething, it is imperative to contact pediatric dentistry. Neonatal teeth can be much weaker as their enamel is not fully formed. Sometimes dentists recommend the removal of such dental units. But in the absence of pathological signs, only regular monitoring of the condition of the baby's oral cavity is required.

Treatment of infants with white spots on the gums

Whatever the diagnosis, parents should remember that self-treatment is extremely dangerous for young children. After finding out the cause of the appearance of white pimples on the child's gums, you must strictly follow the doctor's recommendations. Tactics of treatment depends on the diagnosis:

Food debris accumulating in the baby's mouth must be removed by hygiene procedures after each feeding. You can wrap your finger with a clean gauze cloth and wipe the baby's mouth with it.
In case of candidiasis and infectious stomatitis, the causative agent of the infection must be eliminated. Depending on its type, the use of antifungal, antiviral agents or antibiotics is indicated. It is extremely important to accurately determine the type of pathogenic microorganism, since viral infections are treated only with antiviral drugs, streptococcal and staphylococcal infections with antibiotics, and fungal infections with antifungal agents.
If, at the same time as the appearance of a white pimple on the gums, the baby develops a fever, you need to give him to drink as much liquid as possible. At high temperatures, children are given antipyretics, but only those prescribed by the pediatrician.
Malignant tumors or a cyst on the gums of the baby may require surgical treatment.

If Epstein pearls are found on the gums of the baby, no treatment is necessary. But parents should still be attentive to the child. It is necessary to periodically inspect his mouth, check the number and size of formations. With the rapid spread and growth of pearls, you need to re-show the child to the doctor.