Many new parents call our office hoping to find out about baby teething remedies to get through what can be a very difficult time. We understand how frustrating it can be for parents to watch their child suffer. Unfortunately, teething is a necessary part of life and there will be pain associated with it.
Plain and simple, this is not a comfortable experience for a baby, they will not like it, and they are likely to be incredibly fussy while teething. However, there is hope.
There are steps that parents can take to help ease a baby’s discomfort. Here are a few of them.
1. Give them ibuprofen
As long as parents give a baby the doctor recommended dose, it is safe to give a child ibuprofen. We only recommend this if the teething discomfort is severe but it certainly can be helpful. Ibuprofen is better than Tylenol because it helps to reduce inflammation and swelling in addition to reducing pain. Just be careful to use the medication only as directed by a medical professional and when absolutely necessary.
2. Use cold often
Just like ice can help to relieve muscle pain and tension in adults, ice can relieve pain in virtually everyone. This is because when ice or something very cold comes in contact with the body, it will numb the nerve endings and prevent the sensation of pain. Parents should know this and use cold frequently to help reduce teething pain.
If a baby teething ring is not handy, simply take a clean washrag, get it wet and place it in a bag in the freezer. It will freeze and become something that the baby can bite down on to help relieve their discomfort. As they do, the gums will become numb and they should begin to feel better.
3. Try a numbing gel
Orajel can be incredibly effective for reducing pain in the gums. However, it is possible to give the baby too much Orajel so be careful to only use it as directed and only a couple of times per day. Using cold first is wise.
Be careful with baby teething remedies
As a dentist, we have gotten a lot of questions from parents who read about various teething remedies online and would like to try them with their children. Many of these include using food products like honey or turmeric to help reduce the pain. We want to advise parents to be incredibly cautious about these home remedies and not to try them without speaking to their pediatrician.
Things like honey, for example, could cause a horrible allergic reaction. Likewise, turmeric could be incredibly strong and the baby could react badly to it. These remedies may be safe to try on adults but babies are incredibly sensitive and most pediatricians have a set schedule for when they want parents to introduce foods, let alone these home remedies directly on their gums. Because of that, please be careful and do not try something without speaking to a doctor first.
Remember, this will not last forever
It is important to have baby teething remedies on hand but also to know that this will pass. A baby is typically only going to be in extreme pain for a few days to a week. Afterward, they should begin to feel better. While that can seem like forever to a parent, and understandably so, in the scheme of things, it is important to remember that the teething process is going to come and go so just to hang in there.
How can you really use this information?
We help parents on a regular basis by ensuring that children are in good oral health. We can even help with baby's that are teething. Sometimes it is nice to speak with a professional to ensure that everything is happening as it should.
We can sometimes conduct a quick examination and even help children along. Request an appointment in our Linden dental office here: https://dentistlindennj.com. To learn more about this and other reasons that visiting a dentist early is good for your child, call us at (908) 905-0747 for more information from AC Dental of Linden.
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We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.
Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.
Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued.
You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:
Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at (908) 862-7171 or visit our website at https://dentistlindennj.com/.
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.