Benzocaine.

I've never been a big advocate for Orajel numbing products. Yes, I know that their products are supposed to work well to reduce a teething baby's pain. But, just how effective is that pink gel? How dangerous? The FDA has recently released a safety alert for Benzocaine (the main ingrediant in Orajel), recommending that it not be used on children under the age of 2 years because of a severe and potentially fatal side effect called methemogloinemia (a condition in which the amount of oxygen carried through the blood stream is greatly reduced). This scares me! Orajel has been the most common teething product used by parents for years and years--and its main ingrediant is potentially fatal?! Granted, it is supposed to only be dangerous when administered in large doses or for longer than recommended periods. But, when a baby is in pain for days on end, when does a parent stop giving him relief?
Before Nathaniel was born, I worked at the daycare, where we were not legally allowed to administer any medication (including Orajel) to the children. Very often, we had babies who were painfully teething, and I can't tell you how many times, we had parents ask us to use Orajel, or even parents who popped in on their lunch breaks to rub some on their little one's sore gums. And, after seeing this happen many times, I can tell you that it might provide a numbing relief for a little while...but not for long! Maybe 15 minutes?
When I had my baby, I received a packet of Orajel from a friend; I didn't think much of it, I just tucked it away for later. And, when my little man started drooling everywhere, gumming anything he could get his hands on, and waking up crying, I pulling out the Orajel. I used it on him once. And, he SCREAMED even louder! My first thought was that he just didn't like the numbing feeling, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered. The next day, I popped open one of the Orajel applicators and tried it on myself. The stuff BURNS! And, yes, my mouth did go numb shortly thereafter, but, oh, it burned first! And, while I give that I'm an adult and much bigger than a baby, I think that the numbing only lasted maybe 6 or 7 minutes. In my opinion, the intense burning pain would not make up for a few minutes of numbed relief. I've never used Orajel on my boy again; he's much happier gnawing on a cool washcloth anyway!

After realizing that Orajel (a "baby-friendly" product from a decades old company) was definately not for us, I started looking things up online about it. And, I found out that I'm absolutely not the first mother to toss the stuff out! Apparently, there is a long-standing risk of giving a baby too much of a Benzocaine product, numbing the entire mouth and throat, and causing the baby to suffocate. WHAT?! This stuff is being sold for babies in every store around!!! I found tons of research and recommendations that Orajel (and other Benzocaine products) not be given to babies.
At one point, I mentioned all of this to my mother, who immediately told me why she had never used Orajel on any of her babies. Once upon a time (long before I was born), my mom was riding in the back of a car with her little niece (who was teething). My aunt (Mom's sister/baby's mother) asked my mom to apply a little Orajel to her daughter's gums. As my mom squeezed a drop out of the tube, the car hit a bump, causing her to get a dab on the front of her sweater. Thinking nothing of it, she applied the Orajel to the baby's gums, and they continued on their merry way. By the end of the day, the spot on her sweater where the Orajel had landed had eaten a hole through the fabric. True story. Is that the sort of product that babies need in their mouths? I think not... And, apparently, the FDA finally agrees!
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm250264.htm

*I do think that it is worth noting that Orajel now offeres a "natural" (Benzocaine-free) product for teething pain relief that uses clove oil as the numbing agent. Worth a try? Perhaps...?