Friday, August 24, 2007

Teething Terrors or Gingivostomatitis?

This is a posting by Julie, Dr. Gary's wife, telling her experience caring for children with these nasty mouth sores!

Gary has often told me research shows teething doesn’t cause fevers. He says these fevers in infants and toddlers are most often caused by viruses. Still, most of my friends believe teething and fevers go hand-in-hand, and there are days I wonder if there isn't some shred of truth to the old wives' tale as well... So when our 12 month old Graham developed a fever when we were on our way to a dental study club meeting in Sarasota, I quickly wrote it off as teething. I checked his mouth and didn’t see anything to cause alarm - but I didn’t see any erupting teeth either.

For three days Graham ran a fever with no other symptoms. However, when we returned home from our weekend trip, his gums flared up with blisters. I then had the unfortunate responsibility of contacting the mom of the family we stayed with in Sarasota and informing her of my son’s diagnosis: gingivostomatitis. Sadly, I learned her six month old had come down with a fever too.


Gingivostomatits is highly contagious. That’s why so many infants and toddlers get the virus. There is almost no way to avoid it. So it was a little surprising when my 3-year old Logan ran a fever. We were sure he would have been exposed by now. We were wrong.

What was this virus and why hadn’t I heard more about it? I had only learned of gingivostomatitis the month previous when a friend had called us at home concerned about blisters in her toddler’s mouth. Gary made a house-call visit and told her to prepare for a long 1-2 weeks. She was able to give her child some relief by applying Canker-Rid, a honey bee byproduct remedy available online, to the sores.

I found plenty of information online on gingivostomatitis. Our experience has been almost textbook so far.

My oldest child Logan has developed much more severe symptoms than his brother, including fever, vomiting, inflamed gums, and a swollen tongue. It has been a miserable experience for him and our family. He has literally lived on yogurt, ice cream, and Juice Plus shakes for the past few days. Gary prescribed a “miracle mouthwash” that coats and numbs his tongue and mouth hoping it will provide Logan (and Mommy) some relief and enable him to eat some solid food. I have posted a picture of his swollen gums and fuzzy tongue stained brown by all the chocolate ice cream and dried blood. We’ve been hesitant to brush very aggressively due to the pain he’s been enduring, so he looks like he has a mouthful of decay.


Graham has developed Herpetic Whitlow, blistering on his finger from where the virus spread to a torn cuticle. He had sucked on his fingers to provide comfort from the pain and transmitted the virus to his finger. The vesicles in his mouth were only present for a few days, but I know the virus is still oozing out of his finger.

I am posting our story so other parents can learn about this virus before they experience it. Plus, it may be encouraging to know the doctor’s family endures many of the same oral issues your family does. Gary had seen this before in patient’s mouths, but I doubt he had experienced it quite like what we are experiencing now with our own children. I hope you are one of the fortunate moms who thinks their child is teething and notices only a mild fever. Right now I wish it were only teething...

14 comments:

yada_yada said...

My daughter who is now 9 years old was first diagnosed with a herpetic whitlow on her finger at 5 months old. We did not use any medications at that time the lesion went away within a couple of weeks. She has had a total of 4different outbreaks in 9 years. There is light at the end of the tunnel, stay patient!

Dr. Gary Myers said...

I have not looked into this regarding herpetic whitlow. The herptic infection in the mouth will recur in about 20% of infected individuals. This is what "cold sores" or "canker sores" are. Our child has not had any recurrance of the whitlow on his fingers..I probably learned about recurrance at one point in my education, but I have forgotten! If you come back to this blog, let me know an update..I just figured out that I can get comment activity sent to my email so it won't be 6 months before I respond next time :)

JoelleM said...

Hi there, I know it has been a while since this post, but I am hoping I might get some more information about this "miracle mouthwash" you talked about? My daughter is battling gingivostomatitis for the second time. She first had it at age 2, and now again, at almost 4. It doesn't seem to be as severe; however, her tongue is in horrible pain. Wondering if this mouthwash might help her out. Thanks!

Dr. Gary Myers said...

Joelle,

The miracle mouthwash is a prescription so you would need to have your dentist or physician write for it. It is lidocaine, benadryl and malox. You most liley don't have a second round of primary gingivastomatitis. Secondary expression of this virus is cold sores around the lips. Your daughter might be one that gets apthous ulcers which would be recurring sores around the inner mouth. These usually don't create the same swollen red gums, but more ulcers around the vestibule and occasionally tongue. I hope this helps..although most likely the worst part of the ulcer and soreness is past.
-Dr.Gary

Anonymous said...

My son has had the virus for a week now. When is a safe time to send him back to preschool? How long will he be contagious?

Jessica said...

My 1 yr old niece has it and I am wondering if it would be safe to take my 4mth old around her. We are having a family gathering and I would really like to be there but I am afraid to with the infection. We have discussed about just keeping them apart but I am wondering if that would be enough.

Unknown said...

A little late for response..oops. Yes it would be safe, maybe even helpful. Most infants are exposed and build immunity to this virus in the first six months and may get a slight fever or be a little fussy. It is when the virus strikes later in life that it cauuses all the trouble with the sore, swollen gums.

Unknown said...

For anyone in the jacksonville, FL area, we have a great treatment now for primary herpetic gingivostomatitis that goes beyone just pallative and can knock the virus out in 24 hours if we catch it early.

Anonymous said...

My 13 month old has gingivostomastitis and his gums completely cover a few of his teeth Is that normal?

Unknown said...

Anonymous,
Yes they can do that. They are most likley inflammed and bright red and they can swell up and cover much of the tooth.

Dr. Gary

Anonymous said...

Thank you! Is there anything that I can do to help the swelling? I live in Canada, so I'm not sure what I can use that's available here for a 13 month old. I just feel so bad that I can't help him.

Anonymous said...

I know this post is from quite some time ago but I'm dealing with this now with my 17mo old. She's had it for 4 days so far. I'm wondering how long I should wait until she returns to daycare.

Ingamatyszczuk@hotmail.com said...

Hi Dr. Gary we are experiencing exactly this.. its no fun hah. Are you able to mail this drug ? I would like to keep it on hand for my second child due 12/2017 ingamatyszczuk@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

I know this is late but how long did it take for your daughter to feel better.