Milk fangs in infants need to be removed?

The article was professionally consulted by Doctor Nguyen Thai Ngoc Chau - Department of Pediatrics - Neonatology, Vinmec Phu Quoc International General Hospital.

Many mothers who have just given birth for the first time, when cleaning their children's teeth, find that there are small white spots on the gums, people often call them canines, which makes mothers feel very worried and confused.

Milk fangs are neonatal gingival cysts, this is a common benign lesion of the oral mucosa in a short time in infants, usually causes few complications and mostly disappears after about 2 weeks. up to 5 months after birth.
The nature of the baby canine is a type of cyst with a thin shell in the lumen filled with keratin. This is a degenerative product of keratinized epithelium. Milk fangs are usually white due to the remnants of cell debris during the formation of baby teeth left in the jawbone.
If appearing on the roof of the mouth, it is due to debris of accessory salivary gland cells buried under the mucosa during fetal life.

The most common clinical manifestation is the appearance of one or more white or pale yellow nodules on the surface just below the mucosal surface of the maxillary and mandibular gums of the child. The size of each cyst is usually about 2-3mm, in some cases it can be up to 1cm but very rarely.

Milk fangs are common in infants aged 0 - 3 months, in some cases later but rarely over 8 months of age.
According to statistics, milk fangs appear in more than half of newborn babies. However, the actual rate may be even higher because this is a benign lesion, appearing for a short time, rarely causing pain to the child and often breaking on its own and disappearing in about 2 weeks. skip going to a medical facility. The case of large milk fangs can last up to 5 months without causing any complications.
In most cases, milk fangs cause no pain or discomfort to the baby. However, there are also some babies who may fuss or stop sucking when the milk fangs grow, these cases are caused by infected milk fangs that cause swelling and pain to the touch. When infected with bacteria, the milk fangs in newborns are still white, but the gum lining around the edges of the white spots will be red, swollen and even ulcerated due to trauma, there may be a slight fever.

When a child has been diagnosed with milk fangs, parents should not be too worried. First, it is necessary to assess whether the baby's milk fangs cause any discomfort to the child, whether the child is fussy, has a fever, stops feeding or not. If there are no signs above, just clean the child's mouth well and monitor, the fangs will disappear on their own after 1-2 weeks. If there are signs of bacterial infection causing pain and discomfort to the child, parents need to take the child to the dentist to have the tooth injected or chewed.
This procedure is very simple, but the operation needs to be fast and accurate to avoid injury around causing bleeding, making children more painful and causing psychological anxiety for young parents.
Method of spitting
Apply anesthetic to relieve pain for the child. Use a sharp tool to tear the shell. The cyst will burst on its own, releasing a white or pale yellow substance. Incisions and stings will heal on their own in 1-2 days. Note: The injection of milk fangs for children only has the role of helping the fangs to quickly disappear, but has no preventive effect. Therefore, milk fangs may recur after the injection but in a different location.
In folklore, there are also some tips to treat milk fangs in babies, however, doctors say that parents should not arbitrarily inject milk fangs for babies because if they do not know how to handle them properly. This can lead to more pain and infection for the child.
To remove milk fangs, parents should take their children to a dentist or reputable Pediatric Department to ensure proper treatment and care advice.
To prevent diseases that babies often get, parents should pay attention to nutrition to improve children's resistance. At the same time, add supporting foods containing lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, B vitamins,... snacks and less digestive problems.
Parents can learn more:
Why do you need to supplement Lysine for your baby?
The role of zinc - Guidelines for reasonable zinc supplementation
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