What do you think it feels like to cut teeth?

Gum tissue is very delicate. If you take the end of your fingernail and press firmly for about 10 seconds, you’ll feel pain. Think back to the last time you had an infection or inflammation; the pain was probably so bad that it distracted you from focusing on anything else.

Given all that, the process of teething – items slowly twisting, shifting, and emerging – must be miserable. Ouch.

By the way, teeth don’t actually cut through flesh. The body releases special chemicals that cause some gum cells to die and the tissue to separate, allowing teeth to erupt. Still, though, the baby’s gums are very swollen and sensitive, and teething’s a traumatic ordeal.

I remember the sensation when my last molars and wisdom teeth broke through, and like most mouth/teeth pain, it is nagging and makes one miserable. In older childhood and adolescence, we can consciously understand the cause of the pain, which helps us feel a little easier about it; and we also can distract ourselves from it. Infants and toddlers don’t know why it hurts and want it to stop, and are harder to distract consistently for a prolonged amount of time.

I would guess it feels like cutting through your gums with a dull chisel, and like @hearkat said, you have no friggin idea what’s going on. It just hurts and it doesn’t stop. I found my nephew liked anything cold on his gums. I gave him my bottle of cold water and he chewed on it, or a cold washcloth or vanilla ice cream.

I can still remember how it felt when my wisdom teeth came through. It was sore and itchy and inflamed and I just kept wanting to rub it all the time, with my tongue or a finger. Bad enough when it was just a wisdom tooth, imagine how unpleasant it must be when your whole mouth feels like that for months.

:( Beef jerky seems to be working wonders for Savannah though.

Itchy.

@Dutchess_III I’d think a baby’s kidneys would have a hard time handling the large amount of sodium in beef jerky. I know other parents have done this, but it doesn’t seem too healthy for the little one. I hear most kids really like the frozen teething ring thing – cold and hard.

I vividly remember the torture of cutting my wisdom teeth. The feeling alternates between a constant dull ache, and a bunch of tiny needles jabbing your gums.