Yesterday I explained in an entry why the homeopathy that is usually indicated to dilate and have a faster delivery has no logical or scientific basis behind. Following this post, a mother asked me (on my Facebook page) about the Chamodent For tooth ache, it has been a long time seeing that many parents use it for their babies.
I have to confess that I didn't know very well what the Chamodent, so although it is considered homeopathy I have not responded immediately: there are homeopathic products that are not really, because they do not comply with the principles of homeopathy and do present substances in sufficient concentration to have any effect.
So before answering (because having seen those substances exist I would have said that it could help) I have looked on the DHU website to find out what it contains. Now I can say without fear of being wrong what are the five reasons why if your child has a tooth ache you should not give Chamodent.
1. Because it has not been regulated by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products
In Spain, all medications must be regulated by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), which is the one who reviews the documentation and accepts them for human consumption, or rejects them. Chamodent is indicated for babies from 0 months, that is, newborns can take it. Precisely for this reason, it should have passed even more thorough controls if any medication, because it is assumed that a product that soothes a baby's pain should have some kind of substance that can have side effects.
Come on, Paracetamol also works for tooth pain and can be given since a baby is born, but its prospect is quite complete: it explains how it is dosed, what are the possible risks and interactions with other medications and explains what are the possible side effects. Oh, and it is approved in the AEMPS.
Do the test if you want: you enter the search engine of the AEMPS, put Chamodent and see how there is nothing to read. It is not a real medicine. And if it is not a medicine there is no evidence that it has primary effects (soothe the pain) there is no evidence that it has side effects. It is simply not known whether it is good or bad.
2. Because the active substances are in almost negligible doses
As you can read on the DHU page, Chamodent Contains, for each tablet:
Belladonna D6 15mg, Chamomilla D6 15 mg, Ferrum phosphoricum D6 15 mg, Hepar sulfuris D12 15 mg, Pulsatilla D6 15 mg. The other ingredients are lactose, microcrystalline cellulose, talc and magnesium stearate.
The active substances are diluted up to D6, and in the case of Hepar sulfuris, up to D12. To get a substance in D6, for example Chamomilla (chamomile), take 1 ml of chamomile and mix with 10 ml of excipient (water or alcohol). Thus you get a D1 solution. From that you take 1 ml and mix it again with 10 ml of excipient. So you get D2. You do this 4 times more, so in the end you get a solution of 10 raised to 6, or what is the same, one part per million.
That is to say, one ml of chamomile dissolved in a million milliliters of water or alcohol (1 ml of chamomile in 1,000 liters of water or alcohol) and from there you take 15 mg and put them in a tablet.
Think for a moment that you collect 1,000 liters of water. Pour a milliliter of chamomile and mix it. Would you say that taking a tiny sip of that will help you? Yes, okay ... depending on the substance, it might not be entirely impossible; We all think of some potent poison, but we don't talk about it. We talk about a substance that has to be given to a baby, and that has to relieve pain.
Ibuprofen has the same function and occurs in a concentration of 2% (20 mg of ibuprofen per 1 ml, which is 2 grams per 100 ml). Imagine what effect it would have if instead of 2 grams per 100 ml was dissolved at 1 gram per million milliliters. And that of that solution you would take 15 mg.
Well, the same happens with the rest of the substances in a tablet, except in the case of Hepar sulfuris, which is diluted in D12 (much more diluted).
3. Because homeopathic products have to be harmless
If you are still hallucinating with point 1, seeing that Chamodent is not registered by the AEMPS, you can be calm. Homeopathic products are regulated by ROYAL DECREE 1344/2007, and in its section 5 determines how "homeopathic medicines" should be:
That its degree of dilution guarantees the safety of the medicine, in particular, the preparation should not contain more than one part per 10,000 mother tincture or more than one hundredth of the lowest dose that is eventually used in allopathic medicine of those active ingredients whose presence in an allopathic medicine implies the obligation to present a prescription.
From the text it follows that the law establishes that a dilution of 1 per 10,000 of any substance is considered harmless, which has no side effects in any case. Chamodent has the substances in 1 part per 1,000,000, so it is completely harmless, but in such dilution, as I just explained, completely useless.
The law also says that if the substance of the homeopathic medicine exists in a real medicine, it can only carry 100 times less quantity than the medicine with the lowest dose of the same. That is to say, if a laboratory gives you a chance to put amoxicillin (antibiotic) in one of these solutions, you will have to put one hundredth of the medicine that contains less amoxicillin on the market. This, in Christian, comes to say "that it is a medicine that does nothing."
4. Because the active ingredients do not convince
The active substances are:
- Belladonna: It is used for headache, menstrual symptoms, peptic ulcer, inflammation ... we might think that it serves to calm the pain, but belladonna is a plant of the most toxic that exists, and in therapeutic doses it should be regulated and with a leaflet that explain the possible adverse effects. If there is not, and if it is not regulated, signal that there is not enough to do anything.
- Chamomilla (chamomile): It goes very well for many things, but to relieve the pain of a child who cries for the teeth I do not see it ... in any case, if so, it is easier to make a chamomile and give it to the child, which you ended up before and receive more quantity.
- Ferrum phosphoricum (iron phosphate): used to coat metal parts, especially of steel, in order to prevent corrosion and improve the lubrication of said parts for use in the creation of new plastic parts.
I have no idea what benefits the consumption of this substance can cause in a person ... if someone knows, please let me know. But I have already advanced that if it were useful for pain, surely there would be iron phosphate tablets for adults, and there are not. - Hepar sulfuris (calcium sulfide): used in winter as a fungicide, bactericide and insecticide.
- Pulsatilla: It is a plant with sedative and analgesic effects. It is recommended to administer 1 to 2ml of tincture, 3 times a day. The dose for children will be lower. For a child of 6 months should be around 0.3 to 0.6 ml per dose. But in the dissolution of each tablet of Chamodent, 1 ml gets into 1,000 liters of water and from there 15mg is taken, which is what the child receives in the end. Impossible to serve something.
5. "Well, I gave it to my son, and he calmed down."
In the composition of Chamodent We can read:
The other ingredients are lactose, microcrystalline cellulose, talc and magnesium stearate.
The lactose is milk sugar, the substance that gives the sweet taste to the milk of mammals. They don't tell us how much lactose there is in each tablet, but it is probably quite high, if we consider that homeopathic preparations are basically sugar.
If you give something sweet to a baby who is irritable or has pain, he calms down for a little while. It is a taste that they like and relieves them a little (in fact, many babies are given sucrose when they are going to be tested, because they have been seen to cry less).
The indication of Chamodent is:
Acute phase: 1 tablet every 1 or 2 hours (maximum 6 tablets per day).
From the beginning of improvement: 1 to 3 tablets per day, while symptoms persist.
If every hour you give a 6-month-old child a little sugar, it is clear that you will have a calmer time. But then don't give him Chamodent, give him sugar directly. But here's a problem: Would anyone recommend putting sugar on your child's gums to calm him down, or give him some sugar in water? No, nobody would do something like that. First, because it is not recommended that children start testing sugar until one year of life, so as not to hinder the assimilation of other flavors (and because sugar is not a very healthy substance alone), and because of obvious caries risk.
So yes, Chamodent can calm a baby's tooth pain, but because you are giving sugar. Decide if this is the treatment you consider most appropriate (I used to give it some paracetamol and at least I know it will really calm you down).
