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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/442991?mpid=5105

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Oct 11 - Despite ample evidence to the contrary, many healthcare providers still attribute many infant problems to teething, Australian researchers report.

Dr. Melissa Wake and Kylie Hesketh of Royal Children's Hospital in Australia write that recent reports have demonstrated that teething only causes "minor and relatively infrequent symptoms."

However, the current findings indicate that a wide range of child health professionals still believe that teething can cause many problems including fever, infections, and irritability.

In addition, many healthcare workers continue to recommend teething gels and acetaminophen to help ease a baby's distress from teething, and more than half of responding pharmacists said they recommend sedatives to calm a teething child.

This disparity between beliefs about teething and reality could cause healthcare professionals to mistake other, potentially serious illnesses for teething, Dr. Wake and Hesketh report in the October 12th issue of the British Medical Journal.

"These beliefs may prevent professionals from effectively managing some of the common developmental issues of infancy and might lead to late diagnosis of important illness," the authors note.

The findings are based on a survey of child health professionals. Seventy-three pharmacists, 114 general practitioners, 88 pediatricians, 91 dentists and 98 nurses responded to the survey.

Pediatricians ascribed the least number of symptoms--three--to teething, while nurses attributed an average of 10 symptoms to teething. A total of 32 pharmacists and 19 dentists said they thought teething could cause fever, and up to 50% of people in all groups--except pediatricians--said teething could increase the risk of colds and ear infections.

Most respondents who said they believe teething produces symptoms attributed a wide range of problems to the process, including irritability, drooling, sleeping difficulties and red cheeks. Many nurses also said that they believe teething can lead to feeding problems, loose stools, and smelly urine.

BMJ 2002;325:814.

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