FDA Warns against Using Benzocaine Products for Relieving Teething Pain

Parents should avoid using many over the counter pain relievers, particularly those containing benzocaine to ease teething pain in babies, as it can prove to be harmful than beneficial, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns.

Teething normally starts between six and eight months of the baby. The whole process involved during the eruption of the primary tooth through a baby's gums can be, often a difficult time for both the babies and parents.

For making the teething procedure smooth, parents often tend to depend up on pain killers. But, according to FDA, parents should avoid using pain killers containing benzocaine to ease gum and mouth pain as it can lead to a rare, but fatal condition called methemoglobinemia.

Benzocaine is found in such products as Anbesol, Hurricaine, Orajel, Baby Orajel, and Orabase.

Methemoglobinemia is a blood disorder that leads to the production of an abnormal amount of methemoglobin or a type of hemoglobin that cannot release oxygen, thus bringing down the amount of oxygen carried through the blood stream. Children below two years are at a higher risk than others.

Symptoms that are pretty difficult to identify include shortness of breath, fatigue, headache, rapid heart rate, pale, gray or blue colored skin, lips and nail beds and headache. The condition, untreated can leave permanent injury to the brain and body tissues, and sometimes even to death.

"Symptoms can occur within minutes to hours after benzocaine use," FDA pharmacist Mary Ghods said in a statement appeared in the website. "They can occur after using the drug for the first time, as well as after several uses."

FDA, concerned with the popularity of the benzocaine products as a solution for teething pain, reported receiving 29 cases of benzocaine gel-related methemoglobinemia, since 2006. Of the 19 cases reported among children, 15 were below two years.

According to the agency, parents should stop using the benzocaine products without prescription and advice of a health care professional.

Providing the child with a teething ring chilled in the refrigerator and rubbing or massaging the gum with fingers are some alternatives recommended by experts from the American Academy of Pediatrics for solving the problem.