SIGNIFICANCE OF DENTITION HISTORY IN

CASE TAKING
FOR PRESCRIBING IN CHILDREN
DR. BIPIN JETHANI

M.D. (HOM.)

Associate Professor, Department of Organon of Medicine,

Nehru Homoeopathic Medical College,
Govt. of NCT of Delhi
E-mail: drbipin.jethani@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

One

of

the

important

phases

of

childs

development is the dentition period. It is usually seen in clinical

experience that the symptoms appearing during this period often
provide valuable clues for prescribing in children. This article
attempts to delineate the importance of dentition history in our
case taking for prescribing in children.

INTRODUCTION : Dentition is defined as the development and

cutting of teeth; the character of a set of teeth with regard to
their number, kind and arrangement.1 However it is not mere
eruption of teeth that has enthused medical men since times

immemorial but the illnesses and symptoms accompanying this

phase.

Hippocrates in the fourth century BC, stated in his short treatise,

On Dentition that 'Teething children suffer from itching of the
gums, fevers, convulsions and diarrhoea, especially when they cut
their eye teeth and when they are very corpulent and costive'. He
also observed that the more difficult the teething period was for
the child, the better the child would come through it eventually.
This may well have been a reference to the survival of the fittest
since a child strong enough to survive the pain of teething and
the change in diet occurring at that age, was more likely to
overcome the normal traumas of childhood. 2

In 1896, Dr S. W. Foster, in Dental Cosmos, explained

dentition troubles as, 'The teething child becomes wakeful,
restless and fretful, refuses nourishment; the alimentary canal
becomes more active, diarrhoea follows and if relief is not given,
relaxation of the vital forces follows and we have nausea,
vomiting, convulsions, paralysis and not infrequently, death'. 3

It is now a recognized fact that the event of tooth eruption in

children is a pure course of natural action, and is sometimes

attended

with

lot

suffering.

Common

symptoms

include drooling or dribbling, mood changes and feelings of

irritability or crankiness and swollen gums. Crying, sleeplessness,
restless sleep at night, and mild fever are also occasionally
associated with teething. In addition, when the dentition course is
retarded and difficult; it entails other morbid signs as well. These
morbid signs and the precise disease exhaust the patients
strength.

With regards to the reason for development

of dentitional

complaints, we find that most frequently, the nervous system

has been indicated as a link between tooth eruption and systemic
disease. In 1887, J. W. White wrote, 'The nervous perturbation
occasioned by the eruption of teeth increases the susceptibility
and lessens the resistive power of the child'. 4
In 1990, Wray commented that the current understanding was
that teething coincides with the stage of development
when active immunity is struggling to take over from the
waning passive immunity of the mother. This often results in
ENT or gastrointestinal infection in a child with an obvious oral
fixation who will naturally suck or chew their fingers. In fact it is
worth appreciating the fact that the period of primary dentition is
of great importance as it coincides with the development of
Thymus gland, a gland which is responsible for major immune
responses and impressions in our life. 5

As a developmental milestone characterized by eruption of teeth,

the stage of dentition assumes much more significance from
homoeopathic point of view. This is due to the fact that this stage
is also marked by eruption of characteristic symptoms in a child,
which may serve as a guiding light for individualization.
The individualizing symptoms developing during the phase of
dentition need to be properly investigated in the anamnesis of the
patient; especially so because our rich literature of Materia
Medica boasts of several remedies capable of producing guiding
concomitants during dentition in their pathogenesis. From our
study of Materia Medica and Repertory, we can realize that the
constitutional symptoms of the patient emerging during the
period of dentition is of vital import since it provide a major
avenue of prescribing in many cases of children.

For

instance,

Boger-Boenninghausens

Repertory

gives

important rubrics on dentition having great practical utility. Under

the chapter TEETH, we find:
Dentition,slow,difficult,etc.- Calc-c, calc-f, calc-p, hep., merc.,
pho.,sil., sul., thu.

Similarly under the chapter on AGGRAVATION AND AMELIORATION

IN GENERAL, we find:
Dentition, during (in children) agg. : ACO., am-c., ars., bell.,
BOR., bry., CALC-C.,

calc-p., CHAM., Cic., cina., Cof.., colch.,

Cup., Hep., Hyo., Ign., Ip., KRE., mag-c., Merc., Merc-c., nitac., Nux-m., nux-v., op., POD., pul., rhe., Rhus-t., Sec-c., sil.,
stan., stra., sul., zin.

A few significant clinical clues gathered from the study of Materia

Medica with regards to dentition are appended as follows for
clinical reference:

Convulsions during teething, with fever Belladonna

Convulsions during teething without fever: Mag. p
Sweaty head in dentition- Chamomilla
Diarrhoea during dentition- Cham., Dulc. and Rhus tox
Boring into his orifices during dentition- Thyroidinum
Teeth set very closely as if clumped together especially the

upper ones- Staphysagria.

Skin prone to intertigo during dentition Causticum,
Lycopodium
The above examples clearly underlie the fact that dentition
history is one of those important phases of life that requires
detailed

and

comprehensive

inquiry

individualization of illnesses of children.

for

appropriate

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Merriam-Webster Medical dictionary. (2002). Merriam-Webster Inc.

2. Macknin, M.L., Piedmonte, M., Jacobs, J., & Skibinski, C. (1954). Symptoms
associated with infant teething: A prospective study. Medical Recorder, 4:121.
3. Foster S. W. (1994). Dental Cosmo, 46: 427
4. Seward, M. H. & White, J.W. (1972). The treatment of teething in infants. British
Dental Journal. 132: 33-36.2.
5. Wray, L.M. & Ashley, M. P. (2001). Its only teething a report of the myths
and modern approaches to teething. British Dental Journal, 191: 142.