Do teeth hurt when they come out? There are professionals who say no and others who say yes. In this case I speak as a father, and in many cases I have found teeth that are already out without the child having said anything, but I have also encountered inflamed gums, teeth sticking out and children crying from the trouble.
When it hurts, when they are irritable and complaining, we want to help them in some way so that they suffer less, sleep better, rest more and, in passing, we all sleep at night. There are many remedies. Some work and others do nothing and are even risky, so today we talk a little bit about the subject trying one of the remedies that I have heard the most: put paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, directly on the gums to relieve pain, to relieve their pain.
A remedy that happens by word of mouth
The first time I heard about this remedy was about four years ago, from the mouth of a nurse who had gone to a conference and the dentist (or maybe he was a pediatrician, I don't remember now) who talked about the topic of teeth and the pain of the rash of them, he advised it as a method. Since then I have heard several mothers talk about it, even ask me, and I always tell them what I know: that does nothing, and if it does it is a placebo effect (parents believe that something is being done).
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The mechanism of action of paracetamol in the body has long been a great unknown. It was known what he was doing, the analgesic and anti-thermal effect it produces, the appropriate doses and that if it is taken for a long time or with higher doses than recommended it is toxic to the liver.
Now it begins to know a little how it works and apparently the effect is not closely linked to the medicine itself, but in the effect it causes in the body. Paracetamol or acetaminophen, when entering the body, is broken down by enzymes. From that moment on, some processes begin to unleash inhibit nerve transmission of pain and, consequently, decreases. But this It only happens if you take it by mouth and the body breaks it down. If you put a child in your mouth you do nothing, because it is not an anesthetic.
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I don't know very well who would come up with the invention, but he managed to run it as a method and many people used it. I imagine that there was an extrapolation of the effect of Diclofenac (Voltaren) and Ibuprofen, which both can be administered topically, on the skin, thanks to creams that have these drugs (there are creams or ointments with diclofenac and ibuprofen). But there are no paracetamol creams, and applying paracetamol syrup on the skin does nothing. Come on, I wouldn't wear it if my shoulder hurts.
What to do then?
The ideal then is to use other methods that do serve as something, such as giving the baby cool teethers to calm him down and, if we think he feels pain, give paracetamol or ibuprofen (The latter if he is older than 6 months), but by mouth, like someone who takes a pill because his teeth hurt.
You may wonder if the baby's gum creams work. It depends. There are them with benzocaine, which is an anesthetic that sleeps the gums, which does work. The problem is that the effect lasts only about 30 minutes, and consequently they are not wonderful. In addition, important side effects have been described in some babies.
In Babies and more Gels to calm the discomfort of teething in babies, yes or no?Other creams carry some anti-inflammatory and could go well, although some say that help harden the gums and then they wouldn't make much sense either. There are also gels to clean the gums. They are sold for that, to eliminate the bacterial plaque in the baby's gums, before the teeth come out, or when they only have a tooth, and according to some studies, the mere fact of removing plaque decreases gum pain.
Other methods you can know here, in an entry where we talk about that, although beyond what I have said there is no evidence (amber necklaces are a scam, as is homeopathy for teething), so what I would do is a massage in the gums with some gel that serves to clean them, cold teethers and, if it still hurts, give it paracetamol or ibuprofen. This last solution, of course, in a timely and temporary way, that there are those who believe that all the baby's cries respond to the teeth and the children go all day with the syrup in the body.
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