TEETHING PERIOD AND BABY CARE

Teething is a normal physiologic process of eruption of teeth into the oral cavity (mouth).It begins at age 6months and span for a period of 2years for the complete eruption of 20 deciduous (milk) teeth in a 2 year old baby.

If your child is over 2years without any tooth in the mouth consult your dentist for evaluation and possible management.

The idea of teething being considered as a cause of serious illness is a myth not the truth. The same age of teeth eruption coincides with the period of dwindling maternal antibodies i.e. baby’s protection by the maternal antibody is reduced.

Journey of the tooth into the mouth

This involves the movement of the developing teeth within and through the jaw bone and gum to appear in the mouth. During this period baby experiences certain tingling sensations and the gum itches. In an attempt to itch baby picks any object in view to itch e.g bunch of keys, shoes etc which are usually not clean enough to be introduced into the mouth. This essentially results in infection coupled with the fact that baby’s passive immunity from the mother during this period is reduced (a normal phenomenon which allows the baby to build its own immunity).This forms the basis of erroneous beliefs of serious illness associated with teething.

Often times the general illness observed at this period are viral infections termed herpetic gingivostomatitis, which are not diagnosed by the dentist because mother believes it’s the normal teething period.

True signs and symptoms of teething

-Redness and/or swelling of gingiva

- Slight increase in temperature

 

 

 

False signs include

Diarrhoea

Marked fever

Vomiting

Increased salivation

False signs and symptoms attributed teething are results of :

-Reduced protective immunity from mother.

-Baby is crawling at this age and takes anything in sight to the mouth.

-Food supplements have been introduced at this period which is strange to the baby’s digestive system.

-Increased salivation observed is due to normal functioning of the baby salivary gland sensitized by the itching sensation.

Care of a teething baby

-  Use of clean teething toys/rings (refrigerated)

 - Teething foods like hard rusk and biscuits, which consist of flour and fats (no sugar)

- Refrigerated carrots

All these serve as hard substances to enable child itch the gum where tingling sensation is experienced but in a clean environment.

UTMOST CLEANLINESS IS REQUIRED FOR A SAFE TEETHING