Teething

Willow has been "teething" for a long time now but, at just about nine months old, she has no teeth. I know what teething is, but I thought I'd share the definition with you.

Teething: "The process during which an infant's teeth start to sequentially grow in."

Curious, I checked the American Academy of Pediatrics website looking for information on teething and came upon a study entitled: Symptoms Associated With Infant Teething: A Prospective Study. This study, conducted in 1999, was the first "large, prospective study of healthy infants to determine which symptoms may be attributed to teething and to attempt to predict tooth emergence from an infant's symptoms." Parents tracked teething symptoms of their infant children from 4 months of age through one year of age.

The results of the study indicated that the following symptoms were significantly associated with tooth emergence: Increased biting, drooling, gum-rubbing, sucking, irritability, wakefulness, ear-rubbing, facial rash, decreased appetite for solid foods, and mild temperature elevation.

The following symptoms were NOT significantly associated with tooth emergence: Congestion, sleep disturbance, stool looseness, increased stool number, decreased appetite for liquids, cough, rashes other than facial rashes, fever over 102°F, and vomiting.

**Before I continue, you may be interested to know what "significantly associated with" means. In statistics, "significant" means, probably true. The significance level helps you to determine how likely a result you get is due to chance. The article I sited does not say what significance level was used but the most common is the .95 level meaning that there is a 95% chance that the results are true.**

Willow has been drooling like she is getting paid since she was four months old. The past two days she has had a runny nose from Hell and over the past month or so she has become irritable, rubbed her gums a lot more, and (from time to time) she has what seems to be a slight increase in temperature. But that's over the past MONTH and I can't find anything that is a sure fire way of telling when your child's teeth will come because, well, there isn't one. As a mom, I am attributing everything to teething since, as an engineer I need an explanation for things.

So, teething is the reason that she is not sleeping as much at night. I am convinced. (Okay, I kid. But it's a nice try, right?)

Anyway, many parents wonder if teething is painful since doing things like rubbing Oragel on your baby's gums and giving them Motrin seems to soothe the symptoms (me included). Well, you may (or may not) be happy that I found something from the APA on that as well!

In Teething - Is It Painful? Dr. Shusterman responds to a question form a reader of Pediatrics in Review, "...do teething babies really experience pain?"

His response is: "Clearly, the process of tooth emergence irritates the oral mucosa, since there is, no doubt, pressure exerted on the tissue and a resultant remodeling of the cellular architecture. Many reliable observers (parents) report an increase in salivation and transient negative effects on personality. The process, however, is unlikely to cause a febrile state, and poor mastication or temporary dietary change may account for loose stools.

I have concluded that there is intermittent discomfort as a result of this process, but it is not the explanation for any concurrent severe metabolic disturbance or elevated fever.

There is no specific treatment for teething symptoms, aside from the palliative of allowing the child to chew on hard or cold food. Topical anesthetic preparations are sold over-the-counter, but these may be ingested, and alcohol, either in these preparations or alone, is inappropriate. Specific proprietary remedies should not be encouraged."

So, I sit here typing about teething and wondering when Willow's first tooth will emerge. I have been told that getting teeth late means they will have better teeth. I have no idea if that's true. I always attributed good teeth to good dental hygiene but, what do I know?