FDA Recommends Parents Not Treat Their Kids’ Teething Pain With Homeopathic Teething Tablets, Gels.

The ADA News (10/3) reports the FDA issued a recommendation to consumers to stop providing homeopathic teething tablets and gels to their infants and children due to the risk of “seizures, difficulty breathing, lethargy, excessive sleepiness, muscle weakness, skin flushing, constipation, difficulty urinating or agitation.” The FDA noted that such treatments “are distributed by CVS, Hyland’s and possibly others, and are sold in retail stores and online.”

Dental Caries Detection.

In a release on EurekAlert (10/5), SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, states that new research published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics describes a new method to detect dental caries with “inexpensive long-wavelength infrared imaging.” The study’s authors say the “low-cost” thermophotonic lock-in imaging (TPLI) tool would allow dentists to detect dental caries “earlier than x-rays or visual analysis.” According to the release, “The TPLI tool uses a long-wavelength infrared camera to detect the small amount of thermal infrared radiation emitted from dental caries after stimulation by a light source.”

        The Oral Health Topics on ADA.org offers a resource page on caries risk assessment and management to include discussion of caries detection and newer detection technologies. MouthHealthy.org also provides information for patients on caries.