The Science Behind Teething Pain: What Every Parent Should Know

Teething Pains: The Mystery Unveiled

As any parent can attest, when your little one starts teething, it can turn your world upside down. Even Payton and I, despite our years of experience and countless parenting books, definitely didn't feel prepared when our precious little one started teething. Those tiny, pearly structures poking through can cause so much anguish for the baby and result in countless sleepless nights for you. But why does teething hurt so much? This is a question that seemed to bother me endlessly until I decided to delve deep into the world of science to uncover the mystery.

The Anatomy of a Child's Mouth

Let's begin with a quick lesson on the anatomy of a child's mouth. Did you know that a baby is born with 20 primary teeth hidden in their jaws? Fascinating, isn't it? These teeth, known as "baby teeth", start to break through the gums around six months. This process, called teething, usually lasts until the child is about 3 years old. The pain caused during this process, for the little tyke, is as real as it gets. Now, you might be wondering what causes this pain? Hold your horses (or should I say teething rings)![...]

Slicing Through the Gums

The primary reason teething hurts so much is related to the fact that your baby’s tiny teeth have to break through the gums, which can be quite a painful process. Picture this: sharp objects slicing through your soft tissues... Yikes! No wonder it causes discomfort. It's more or less the dental equivalent of having a bad paper cut on your finger. Only, imagine having 20 paper cuts successively, not a pleasant thought, is it? [...]

The Inflammation Factor

However, the slicing is just half the story. What accentuates the pain is inflammation. When the sharp baby teeth make their way through the gums, the body responds to what it perceives as an injury. This response? Inflammation. Inflammation results in a chain of events in the body - the blood vessels dilate allowing more blood to flow to the 'injured' area which causes redness and swelling. The white blood cells then rush to the rescue to protect the body, putting pressure on nerves and causing - you guessed it - pain. This, in essence, is your little one's personal world war III event, happening right inside their tiny mouths. [...]

Relieving Teething Pain: The Science Behind it

The understanding of the teething process made Payton and I realise the importance of finding ways to ease our baby's discomfort. Now, to understand what might help a baby we need to grasp the very root of the pain. There are different types of pain - like the sharp, fast, 'ouch that was a hot pot' type of pain which travels quickly along thick, myelinated nerve fibers. Then, there's the dull, throbbing, slow kind of pain that meanders along the unmyelinated, thin fibers. It's this slow pain that is caused by inflammation and it is also, unfortunately, the type that responds the least to basic painkillers. [...]

Cooling Application: The Why and The How

Remember Muffin, my lovely Maine Coon, and Sam, my Golden Retriever? If you have pets, you're most likely familiar with the idea that animals instinctively lick their wounds to alleviate pain. This instinct is not limited to furry four-legged creatures. Babies, too, instinctively want to gnaw on cold, hard objects to numb the pain from teething. The principle at work here is simple: cold constricts blood vessels which reduces inflammation and causes desensitization of the area to pain thanks to the power of cold thermoreceptors. Long story short, that's the reason why those teething rings kept in the fridge work like magic. [...]

Understanding and Addressing the Symptoms of Teething

Now that we know why teething hurts, it's crucial to recognize the signs and know how to address them. Typically, symptoms include drooling, irritability, a slight increase in temperature, and a whole lot of gnawing. The irritability is understandable, et tu would be cranky if you had a tooth breaking through your gums. The drooling though is down to an increase in saliva production caused by the stimulation of the gums. As for the mild fever, well, it appears to be the body's generalized response to inflammation. [...]

Remedies and Relief

Armed with this insight, we have an arsenal of remedies at our disposal to offer relief to our little ones. The cooling application, we've already addressed. But that's not the only tool in your toolbelt, you can always give the baby a gentle gum massage (clean hands of course!), or use a damp washcloth to apply pressure to those sore gums. If things get a bit unbearable, as they often do, it's worth considering medical options like acetaminophen or ibuprofen to aim for some degree of pain relief. [...]

Teething can be a real pain, but armed with an understanding of the science behind it and a few tricks up your sleeve to provide relief, it's a hurdle we can help our little ones conquer. As parents, we'll continually face such trials. But remember, after the storm always comes the rainbow, or in this case, a beautiful pearly white smile.