TEETHING CREAMS AND GELS HAVE RISKS Parents and caregivers who are looking to relieve a teething baby's pain might try rubbing numbing medications on the child's gums. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns against using any sort of topical medication to treat teething pain in children, including prescription or OTC creams and gels, or homeopathic teething tablets. These medications offer little to no benefit and are associated with serious risk. Benzocaine-a local anesthetic-is the active ingredient in several OTC oral health care products such as Anbesol, Baby Orajel, Cepacol, Chloraseptic, Hurricaine, Orabase, Orajel, and Topex. These products should not be used for teething because they can be dangerous and are not useful because they wash out of a baby's mouth within minutes. The use of benzocaine gels, sprays, ointments, solutions, and lozenges for mouth and gum pain can lead to a serious-and sometimes fatal-condition called methemoglobinemia, in which the oxygen-carrying capacity of red blood cells is greatly reduced. Prescription and OTC benzocaine oral health care drug products are also widely used in adults. Doctors and dentists often use sprays containing benzocaine to numb the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat or to suppress the gag reflex during medical and surgical procedures, such as transesophageal echocardiograms, endoscopy, intubation, and feeding tube replacements. But benzocaine sprays are not FDA-approved for these uses. Talk to your health care professional about using benzocaine and other local anesthetics, especially if you have heart disease; are elderly; are a smoker; or have breathing problems such as asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema. Those conditions put you at greater risk for complications relating to methemoglobinemia. Presented as a service to the community by Dr. Barbara Webster 1121 Warren Ave., Suite 130, Downers Grove, IL 60515 630-663-0554 SM-CL 1817829 TEETHING CREAMS AND GELS HAVE RISKS Parents and caregivers who are looking to relieve a teething baby's pain might try rubbing numbing medications on the child's gums. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns against using any sort of topical medication to treat teething pain in children, including prescription or OTC creams and gels, or homeopathic teething tablets. These medications offer little to no benefit and are associated with serious risk. Benzocaine-a local anesthetic-is the active ingredient in several OTC oral health care products such as Anbesol, Baby Orajel, Cepacol, Chloraseptic, Hurricaine, Orabase, Orajel, and Topex. These products should not be used for teething because they can be dangerous and are not useful because they wash out of a baby's mouth within minutes. The use of benzocaine gels, sprays, ointments, solutions, and lozenges for mouth and gum pain can lead to a serious-and sometimes fatal-condition called methemoglobinemia, in which the oxygen-carrying capacity of red blood cells is greatly reduced. Prescription and OTC benzocaine oral health care drug products are also widely used in adults. Doctors and dentists often use sprays containing benzocaine to numb the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat or to suppress the gag reflex during medical and surgical procedures, such as transesophageal echocardiograms, endoscopy, intubation, and feeding tube replacements. But benzocaine sprays are not FDA-approved for these uses. Talk to your health care professional about using benzocaine and other local anesthetics, especially if you have heart disease; are elderly; are a smoker; or have breathing problems such as asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema. Those conditions put you at greater risk for complications relating to methemoglobinemia. Presented as a service to the community by Dr. Barbara Webster 1121 Warren Ave., Suite 130, Downers Grove, IL 60515 630-663-0554 SM-CL 1817829