Your First Teeth

The process of the first teeth is always a time that brings some stress, both for parents and for the baby. There are many theories and myths related to this completely natural process. Some babies already have their first tooth at four months, while others have none by one year. The “delay” in the appearance of the first tooth has nothing to do with calcium deficiencies, contrary to what many people believe. The truth is that the process adapts to the baby’s diet; the first teeth to appear are the incisors, perfect for cutting soft foods like vegetables and fruits. Later, the canines and molars will appear, to chew harder things like meat.

All babies go through this process more or less painfully, but it is a perfectly natural process that generally does not require intervention.

The Process:
Teeth, composed of enamel, the hardest material present in our body, pierce the bones of the jaw and maxilla and then the soft tissues of the gums. Any perforation process generates debris, and the body is no different:
1.    The process usually generates pain: piercing bones hurts.
2.    “Debris” is generated, dead cells from the bone and gums.
3.    The presence of bacteria in the area increases; bacteria are organisms naturally present in our body whose job is simple: to eliminate dead cells. The bacteria in our intestines convert dead and useless cells in our intestines into feces, and the dead cells in wounds form a scab that in turn protects the wound.
4.    Production of mucus due to the activity of the bacteria.
5.    Fever so that the immune system can control the bacteria. The immune system is on standby at 37ºC, the ideal temperature for bacteria to multiply rapidly. At 38.5ºC, the immune system is active and can react quickly, while bacteria develop more slowly. This is important because, during the piercing process, external bacteria (babies put everything in their mouths) can enter the body, and the immune system quickly eliminates them.
6.    Irritation of the lips and skin around the mouth as the chemical composition of saliva is altered and becomes slightly more acidic due to the high presence of bacteria. This process also helps the immune system control its colony of workers.
7.    Diarrhea and changes in the composition and smell of feces due to the ingestion of unwanted bacteria in the gastrointestinal system: the baby swallows mucus and saliva, and the body eliminates them rapidly.
8.    Irritation of the skin around the anus due to the change in acidity in the gastrointestinal tract (from the mouth to the anus) for the same reason as the irritation of the skin around the mouth and lips.
9.    Diaper dermatitis due to the acidity of the feces.
There are several ways to “treat” this process. With drugs or without them, that is, interfering in a perfectly natural process, or allowing it to proceed.
In many cases, the process of the first teeth ends in otitis for a very simple reason: babies swallow everything, and mucus gets trapped in the drainage tube between the ear and the nose. This is often due to the fact that at the slightest sign of fever, parents administer antipyretics, drugs that suppress fever, which plays an essential role in this process. By chemically removing the immune system’s ability to control bacteria, they multiply rapidly and end up behind the baby’s eardrum due to accumulation. At this point, the presence of other bacteria is required to eliminate those that have reached the ear (which has its own colony of bacteria, different from those in the gastrointestinal system). The fever increases, the baby suffers much more pain due to pressure on the eardrum, and the process ends with a dose of antibiotics that eliminate bacteria indiscriminately, both those naturally present in the body and those that the body considers invaders. In summary, an expensive, useless, and even dangerous process as it weakens the system for several months after the action of the antibiotics.
Many parents turn to more “natural” methods, natural sedatives, and probiotics, which are safer, less expensive, but equally unnecessary as they neglect the normalcy of the bodily process that we all go through.

Finally, there is this simple, painless, and safe process: educating parents to remind them that it is a natural process that will go much faster if its normal development is allowed, combined with spinal adjustments as needed to enable the body to function at its maximum potential during this time. This safe, inexpensive, and even necessary method, which respects the innate function of the immune system and the body, is called: chiropractic.