8. Due to a widespread belief that teething was the prime cause of infant mortality, a surgical procedure was introduced whereby a physician would cut into the gums of a child to release their teeth prematurely.
Due to the high levels of infant mortality, it was widely, and incorrectly, believed that the concurrent process of child teething was the cause of death. This belief became sufficiently widespread that during the mid-19th century 4.8% of all infants who died in London under the age of 1 were registered as having died from teething, rising to 7.3% for those between the ages of 1 and 3. Traditional, albeit entirely unnecessary remedies to “cure” teething included “blistering, bleeding, placing leeches on the gums, and applying cautery to the back of the head”. Of particular note, Ambroise Paré developed and popularized a surgical procedure to treat the alleged condition.
Paré’s technique demanded the use of a scalpel to cut open the gums of the afflicted infant to help encourage the emergence of teeth. Naturally, slicing into the mouth of an infant child, exposing tissue to infection and causing irreparable damage to oral development, did not aide at all in combating the non-existent medical concern. Despite this, Paré’s method remained commonplace through the start of the 20th century, when it was surpassed by the growing use of “teething powders”. These powders, arguably even more dangerously, included calomel: a form of mercury and which remained in use until 1954 when it was banned due to its tendency to cause severe poisoning.