Under certain conditions, benzocaine can trigger a rare and sometimes fatal blood condition called methemoglobinemia which causes dangerously low oxygen levels in the blood with resulting symptoms of ashen, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips and fingernail beds, shortness of breath, headache, light-headedness and rapid heart rate possible.
Problems with benzocaine were first announced in 2006 and since then, 29 cases of methemoglobinemia have been reported 19 of which were in children and 15 of those in children under 2.
Another warning for the active ingredient in baby teething gels occurred in 2011.
The scary symptoms triggered by benzocaine in baby teething gels can occur within minutes or even hours. Methemoglobinemia can occur the first time the product is used or much later after several uses even when the child appeared fine previously.
Of course, if your child experiences any of these symptoms, you should seek medical help immediately.
A better course of action would be to avoid use of these dangerous baby teething gels and utilize non-toxic teething remedies that are safe and effective with no risk of fatal blood conditions.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a chilled teething ring or gently massaging your child’s gums with your finger as alternative ways to provide relief.
While these methods may seem safer, I personally didn’t want my children chomping on plastic. Chewing on a synthetic substance might introduce another chemical danger like BPA to their vulnerable little bodies. Swapping one chemical cocktail (teething gels) for another (plastic) isn’t a smart idea.
Massaging the gums does help but is not always practical. For example, if you are trying to get your baby to sleep and (s)he won’t lie still due to teething discomfort, this approach is not going to work!
Homeopathy as a Teething Remedy
They also dissolve with no chewing, so even babies with no teeth can easily take them. As a bonus, homeopathic teething pills are quite inexpensive like many homeopathic remedies I’ve used.
I can’t tell you how many times I had a crying, fussy child in discomfort from teething pain who calmed down and went to sleep within minutes of having a couple of these tiny homeopathic pills placed under the tongue!
My husband and I used to call this homeopathic teething remedy “magic pills” because of how amazingly fast and effective they were. For any homeopathy doubters out there, the effect is not placebo either. A baby who is still nonverbal wouldn’t even know what this meant!
So skip the dangerous, over the counter gels and other teething remedies containing benzocaine and other toxic chemicals to soothe your irritable child.
Try homeopathy instead. Hopefully, you will be as delighted as we were with the nontoxic, effective results!
It’s certainly worth a shot!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source
FDA Warns About Benzocaine in Baby Teething Gels
More Information on Nutrition and Oral Health
How I Healed My Child’s Cavity
Toddler’s Severe Tooth Decay Halted in 5 Days
Whiten Your Teeth Without Dangerous Chemicals
Resolving Periodontal Problems with Bone Broth
Coconut Oil Stops Strep Bacteria from Damaging Tooth Enamel
What is the True Cause of Crooked Teeth?
10 Signs Your Dentist is Truly Holistic
Avoiding Root Canals with Diet Alone
Moms Catch Flack for Breastfeeding in Uniform
I make my own with coconut oil, cocoa butter, and cloves or clove oil. Safe and healthy. 🙂
Hi Kate, do you have a post on this? If so, can you place the link here? Thanks!
Yes. 🙂 Here’s the link: http://www.modernalternativemama.com/blog/2012/02/27/monday-health-wellness-homemade-teething-cream/
I use the Hyland’s teething tablets for my little guy and they work wonders!! He won’t keep them in his mouth though, so I drop them into a syringe, suck up a little warm water to disolve them, and then squirt it in his mouth 🙂
Thankfully my 6 kids are way past teething, but we do deal with canker sores occasionally and have used Orajel when they are really bad. Had not heard of those warnings, very scary. Do you have any recommendations for canker sore relief?
I used to get canker sores frequently; as many as one per month. It was terrible. Then I read that they can be caused by SLS in toothpaste. I switched to an SLS-free toothpaste and have had only one or two canker sores in the intervening eight years. Try it! You can get SLS-free toothpaste at the health food store or at an on-line drug store like iHerb.
I use a product called Ora5 which works excellent for canker sores. I’ve only been able to find it online. It acts as a liquid band aide but also heals it quickly. I have noticed that if the sore gets really red and irritated, when i apply the Ora5 with a Q-tip it does sting for a few minutes, but then about a half hour later, I could enjoy a meal pain-free! I also make sure i apply it to the very first signs of one forming, and it completely stops it from growing. There are only 4 ingredients: copper sulphate, iodine, potassium iodide and alcohol 1.5%. It really works well!!
Pulsatilla and hypericum work well, also. My daughter had terrible diaper rash from the Hyland’s, although it worked.
Hylands Teething Tablets were nothing short of miraculous when my oldest was teething. I whole-heartedly recommend them!
We use Oxyfresh Dental Gel – it has wonderful things like camomile & aloe for soothing as well as healing.
I am interested in using Amber necklaces/bracelets..for teething and other pains! Do you have any knowledge of these and personal experiences using them
I got my daughter an “inspired by Finn” Baltic Amber teething necklace and it has worked awesome!! Better than any homeopathic teething liquid, gel or tablets we’ve tried (including Hylands). I’ve lost it twice, and realized those times that it is a necessity in our house! 🙂 You can sometimes find good deals on Ebay or sometimes they have sales on their website. The lighter in color and more cloudy the better.
PS- We also do Rescue Remedy when her teeth are hurting and it seems to help!
Hi Samantha
Different country and therefore may be a different formula, but the Rescue Remedy I have contains alcohol – worth checking to make sure you don’t have a happy drunk on your hands 😉
There is a rescue remedy for kids, which does not contain alcohol.
we are also huge fans of the amber necklace, and also ordered ours through inspired by finn. i was unable to buy hyland’s and ended up with a different brand. so far we have been underwhelmed with their effects, though i do successfully use other homeopathic remedies and am a fan of homeopathy in general. but when it comes to teething, i’m fairly certain the amber necklaces will always be the solution in our house 🙂
We also have bought amber teething necklaces from Inspired by Finn for two of my children. They work so well, and I really wish we would have had one for my first, who had a horrible time teething. I NEVER give baby Tylenol or Motrin to my kids (my second and third kids have never had it at all), but I gave it to my first all the time for teething, because the poor kid would scream from teething pain until he threw up. I remember a particularly horrible 8 hour car ride with him–he screamed the whole way, and his poor mouth was bleeding from the tooth that was breaking through the gums. I really wish we would have had an amber necklace for him at the time!
I have an amber necklace for my 15 month old and LOVE it. If I forget to put it in in them AM when he’s teething he will pull his ears and fuss, but that stops when I get it on him. I also do the homeopathy when it gets really bad and only one molar has really given us problems so far. I highly recommend the necklaces…got mine on Etsy!
I use clove oil when I have a toothache or a canker sore. Cloves provide pain relieve as well as being antiseptic. Would clove oil work on a baby or would it be too strong? I started using it after my kids already had their teeth.
Hylands’s tablets work great I used them on both of my sons. My sister in law came over with a tooth ache one day at I gave her some and it actually worked on that too.
Did you know that Hyland’s teething tablets have belladonna in them? It is a sedative. Boiron Camilia Teething Relief does not – and actually works much better than hylands for my little teether! Also – I was late on the baltic amber teething necklace train! SO very glad I got on in time for molars cutting!
We LOVE Boiron Camilia and teething necklaces too!
Yes, clove can work on babies but dilute it (see recipe above). This same cream can work for any oral pain issues, including adults.
When I was pregnant my doula told me that there had been a problem with the Hyland’s teething tablets, something about some tablets containing too much of certain ingredients and I think some children even died…I think it was the belladonna poisoning. We never used them; we didn’t use anything other than cold, wet washrags.
Thanks Kate…I didn’t see your posts above.
Bethany, Hylands had a recall on their product after this incident. They were off the shelves for awhile, but came back. We used them on my daughter and they were wonderful. My son won’t take them. We don’t do the amber necklaces, no matter how well they work, due to religious/spiritual issues.
The mesh feeders are a lifesaver, as I put frozen fruit in them, and they chew, chop and gobble them up, making the littles happy.
When our youngest was itty-bitty and had colic, we used Dr. Christopher’s Kid-e-Col tincture: catnip and fennel in a veg glycerin. It not only helped relieve the colic symptoms, but also worked on his gums when he teethed. Great stuff.
I am allergic to Benzocaine for topical things. I had not heard of these problems. I am grateful for the allergy. I have steared clear of the gels for my children because of it! What about Hyland’s teething gel?
We use the teething tablets! Fabulous!
There’s also an alternative for babies who are allergic to dairy–bc believe it or not, there’s DAIRY in Hyland’s tablets! why!? idk, but we were lucky to find Humphrey’s Teething Tablets which are dairy free 😀
they are also magic pills. i stashed one in my purse, one in our diaper bag, my husband had a bottle with him… they worked WONDERS 🙂 Our son didn’t like anything but me being in his mouth (no teethers, pacis, etc) so the tablets saved our sanity lol…