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Bite Me! Part 2

I’m sure many of you have listened to me say, “Teething causes teeth, not fevers or diarrhea,” and thought, “Oh, yeah, just wait until Eva and Zoe sprout some dentition.” Well, I’m here to tell you that I have run a controlled experiment in my house and I stand by my convictions. Oh yes, these girls have plenty of runny noses, poop running up to their armpits (Thanks for that today, Zoe!) and their share of fevers. But teeth seem to just randomly appear. It’s like a game, looking inside their mouths to see if anything appeared overnight. You don’t believe me?

When Eva was 8 months old, I was concerned that we’d be buying the child dentures. Nothing. She was gumming pizza slices. Then one day there was a tooth. The next day I stuck my finger in there to make sure it hadn’t been my imagination and, guess what? There was another. And two more appeared two weeks later, just as suddenly and without warning as the first batch.
Right about the time Eva got her lateral incisors (the next group to come in), Zoe showed up with a little baby tooth. Pop! Pop! Pop! The next group came in over a couple weeks and the only one who seemed to be in pain was me. (Zoe is a biter.)
Now, I know what you are thinking: those Zibners girls just have good genes. They are the tiny proportion of children who don’t get sick when they teethe. But my children share zero genetic material. One born of my DNA, the other in my heart. The only thing they share is an idiot for a mother. (Well that and a bedroom, all their toys and an entire family.) Of course the other possibilities are that I’m extremely lucky or that I’m completely out of tune with my children, but I don’t like to think like that.
So there you have it. Teething causes teeth. Of course I can believe that it might cause some irritability and moodiness because teeth ripping through a gum have to hurt a little bit, don’t they? But there is absolutely no evidence supporting the claim that fevers, runny noses or diarrhea are the result of teething. It’s more likely that a teething infant chews on everything, meaning she comes in contact with more viruses and then gets sick. This is important to understand because if your little one really is ill, you can’t blame her teeth and send her off to daycare to infect other children, or not call your pediatrician if you suspect that she is really not well.
Why is all this on my mind today? Well it’s because Eva got her first molar this week. I looked in her mouth and thought it was milk and tried to wipe her gum. But instead I got jabbed by a sharp piece of enamel. I had to go look it up, (I thought she was too young, my little baby!) but yes, the first molars appear between 13 and 19 months. We’re right on time.

Dr. Lara Zibners, Jan 26, 2011

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