I must say, I’m a bit nervous posting about my research on Teeth as I have friends who are in the dentistry industry – but here is some information on teething. The great thing about having dentist friends is that I can always ask questions. Lucky Harvey :)… I’m keeping topic relatively basic – but before we get into Teething, I’m was curious of how teeth are actually formed.
Tooth Development
The teeth begin to develop at just 6-7 weeks after conception.
To see the process, check out this video:
Teething: What is it?
The process of the emergence of the tooth breaking through the gum line. Newborns have a full set of 20 baby teeth hidden in their gums (though some infants are born with teeth!!).
Tooth eruption is a continuous process. See below stages of tooth eruption [2]:
Teething generally takes about eight days which includes four days before and three days after tooth comes through the gum[3]. Here is the teething timeline [4]:
Fore more visual interaction the timeline can be found in this VDO (the sounds is not too good but the content is pretty good).
Teething Symptoms
From I have read and discussed with other mums, ‘teething’ babies may display the below symptoms:
- Diarrhoea and loose poop
- Nappy rash
- crying a lot or cranky
- increased drooling
- sucking on objects or bites on things more than usual
- pulling on the ear on the side that tooth coming through
- decreased appetite
Prior to Harvey’s teething, I must admit that I didn’t believe symptom number 1, 2 and 4 were real or relevant. However, it appears that Harvey experienced almost all of the above symptoms while teething, except perhaps diarrhoea. Hence, I have to look further into this. So far though, I have found it difficult finding facts to correlate some of these symptoms with teething (e.g. diarrhoea, nappy rash)…. I will pause the research for now… *To Be Continued*
Teething Treatment
Common teething management techniques I have found in my experience and research are:
- Gently rubbing their gums (to help break down gums tissues)
- Give baby something cold to bite on
- Easy chewing food
- Pain-relieve such as paracetamol
- Teething gel (e.g. Bonjela)
Some people have recommended “Amber teething necklaces” – however there is no mention or claim on most websites selling the products that they actually do anything. Additionally, the TGA has issued a notice stating that there was no evidence of amber necklaces help to relief pain from teething symptoms. There are several product warnings in Australia including Australian Dental Association and Australia Competition and Consumer Commission. For these reasons, I would advise against using these necklaces.
For Harvey, when his discomfort seemed to be high, we found that using teething gel (sometimes coupled with paracetamol) did help him get through the night. During the day, we generally gave him something cold to chew on but I don’t think that made much difference as he only bit on it for about 2-3 minutes and then got bored and move on to something else.
Each baby and parent is different, some methods may work on one but not the others.
References
[1]. https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/images/e/e5/Human_Carnegie_stage_1-23.jpg
[3]. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/teeth-development-in-children
[4]. http://drlisacurry.blogspot.com.au/2015_05_01_archive.html
The Harvey Karuna Method 
