The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has told parents to avoid using "gum-numbing" medications on their teething infants. The health experts explained the viscous lidocaine or benzocaine-containing teething products might cause severe health conditions.
According to the FDA, viscous lidocaine comes in the form of a gel-like syrup and is commonly prescribed for mouth ulcers that develop mostly in chemotherapy patients. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices already reported 22 viscous lidocaine related incidents involving children under the age of three and a half. Some of these cases reported fatalities.
The FDA will now require all prescription viscous lidocaine products to carry a warning label regarding the dangers of using this medication on toddlers. Symptoms of an overdose are confusion, shaking, seizures, jitteriness, vision issues and vomiting.
"Teething is a normal phenomenon; all babies teethe," Dr. Ethan Hausman, a pediatrician and pathologist at the FDA, said in the press release. "[The FDA] does not recommend any sort of drug, herbal or homeopathic medication or therapy for teething in children."
However, most of the parents give their babies benzocaine, also known as viscious lidocaine, by soaking a pacifier in the formula. If the babies' gums are swollen or tender, the FDA recommends massaging them with fingers or giving the child a "cool teething ring or a clean, wet, cool washcloth to chew on."
"The cool object acts like a very mild local anesthetic," said Hari Cheryl Sachs, M.D., a pediatrician at FDA, in the release. "This is a great relief for children for a short time."
