Ige Opeodu Olanrewaju, Olubukola Popoola Bamidele
Department of Periodontology and Community Dentistry, University of Ibadan, Child Oral Health University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
Niger Med J. 2013 Mar;54(2):107-10. doi: 10.4103/0300-1652.110042.
Many symptoms had been associated with teething in children with the possibility of overlooking potentially fatal condition. Symptoms that had been associated with teething include diarrhoea, fever, vomiting and cough. The possibility that any of these symptoms could have been due to other causes call for thorough investigation of the child before concluding that it is only "teething".
The study was carried out to assess the beliefs of nursing mothers concerning symptoms that are associated with teething among children and to identify those that would seek medical treatments in case of their children having such symptoms during teething.
Two hundred and ninety nursing mothers whose children had erupted at least a tooth were interviewed in the immunisation clinics of the University College Hospital and Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, both in Ibadan, Nigeria, on their beliefs and practice concerning teething in children.
One hundred and eighty-eight (64.8%) of the mothers associated symptoms such as fever, cough, catarrh and diarrhoea with eruption of teeth in their children. Over half of the women agreed that a child having either fever (51.0%), ear infection (57.6%) or cough (50.3%) should be promptly taken for medical consultation and not be tagged "teething", while for other symptoms such as gum pain (74.5%), sleepless night (56.6%), vomiting (51.4%) and diarrhoea (51.7%), over half of the mothers believed that the symptoms will resolve following the eruption of the teeth.
The study demonstrated that mothers in the study attributes several symptoms to teething, which could be detrimental to the survival of their children as the symptom could have been due to other causes. There is, therefore, need for public enlightenment to create awareness on the possible effect of presumptuous belief that childhood diseases are due to teething process.
许多症状都与儿童出牙有关，这有可能会忽视潜在的致命病症。与出牙相关的症状包括腹泻、发烧、呕吐和咳嗽。这些症状中的任何一种都可能由其他原因引起，这就要求在认定只是“出牙”之前对儿童进行全面检查。
开展这项研究是为了评估哺乳期母亲对儿童出牙相关症状的看法，并确定在孩子出牙期间出现此类症状时会寻求医疗救治的母亲。
在尼日利亚伊巴丹的大学学院医院和阿德奥约妇产教学医院的免疫接种门诊，对290名孩子至少已萌出一颗牙的哺乳期母亲进行了访谈，了解她们对儿童出牙的看法和做法。
188名（64.8%）母亲将发烧、咳嗽、卡他症状和腹泻等症状与孩子出牙联系起来。超过半数的女性认为，孩子出现发烧（51.0%）、耳部感染（57.6%）或咳嗽（50.3%）时应立即就医，而不应被认定为“出牙”，而对于牙龈疼痛（74.5%）、夜啼（56.6%）、呕吐（51.4%）和腹泻（51.7%）等其他症状，超过半数的母亲认为这些症状会在牙齿萌出后自行缓解。
该研究表明，参与研究的母亲将多种症状归因于出牙，这可能对孩子的生存不利，因为这些症状可能由其他原因引起。因此，需要进行公众宣传，以提高人们对认为儿童疾病是出牙过程所致这种臆断可能产生的影响的认识。
