Teething

Did you know that the British now have dentists? Even more unusual -- they even have a professional dentists' association, which publishes research! Who woulda thought that?

Turns out they now have better dental care than Americans do, at least from a statistical standpoint. And they offer some advice to parents of youngsters who are teething:

It is now generally accepted, that the eruption of the deciduous teeth is accompanied by a number of relatively minor symptoms. General irritability, disturbed sleep, gum inflammation, drooling, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, circumoral rash, intra-oral ulcers, an increase in body temperature, increased biting,1gum-rubbing, sucking, wakefulness and ear-rubbing, have all been identified as being temporally related to teething.

Other studies have failed to identify daytime restlessness, diarrhoea, bronchitis, an increase in finger sucking, gum rubbing, drooling and a loss of appetite in teething children, whilst Wake et al. (2000) could not confirm a strong association between a range of teething symptoms and tooth eruption. Although Macknin et al. (2000) identified several symptoms (see above) to be associated with teething, congestion, sleep disturbance, stool looseness, increased stool number, decreased liquid appetite, cough, non-facial rashes, fever and vomiting were not significantly associated with tooth emergence.

It's nice to know we now have an explanation for ear rubbing ... wait, what? But they're telling us the fever and some other symptoms aren't well causally linked to the actual teething. For that matter, the symptoms of teething aren't well linked to the actual teething, either.

That explains why last weekend when Grandpa John showed up Lil' Genghis' inventory of teeth increased 200 percent ... but she didn't seem to be in much discomfort then; a week earlier and it was awful. The little lady since then has had some pretty rough nights, but was so exhausted she slept through the landlord bringing a lawnmower and another Shih Tzu, thus evoking Doggie War III.

Anyway, mom wants to try some baby Advil/ibuprofen. If nothing else, some research seems to show that alternating Tylenol/acetominophen and Advil/ibuprofen works. Of course, more modern research seems to suggest this is bunk.

Either way, with no cavities, crowns, bridges or anything else, Lil' Genghis has teeth far better than the typical person in either England or America. Let's hear it for the teeth! =)