Will Antibiotics Stain Teeth?

They have a layer of primary dentin and will continue to form secondary dentin as the child grows. The tetracycline antibiotics are incorporated into the secondary dentin, but staining is minimal in these teeth due to the short duration of the therapy and the buffering layer of primary dentin – meaning that the staining will be on the very inner-most part of the tooth. Post-eruption staining has been reported in adolescents and adults; however, the duration of treatment is longer than 10 days. So yes, there is going to be some staining of the tooth. Although with only 14 days duration, it will be minimal. There is a section of our population that was born from the late ‘50s to the early ‘70s that were exposed to large amounts of tetracycline for years as children and have banded layers of stain on their teeth as a result. This practice has been discontinued.

- Mark D. McOmie, D.M.D.