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Amber Teething Necklaces
Define Problem: Does the amber teething necklace help babies without putting them into harm's way?

Gather Information: "teething jewelry puts children, including those with special needs, at risk of serious injury and death," Gottlieb, S. (Dec 20 2018)   https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-warns-about-safety-risks-teething-necklaces-bracelets-relieve-teething-pain-or-provide-sensory
Evaluate Evidence: Evidence shows that many children have choked on the amber beads on teething necklaces and several were even strangled by the necklace itself getting caught on something. Many doctors advise parents to stay away from teething necklaces as they can pose serious health risks for babies.
Recognize Biases/Emotions: Many parents who use teething necklaces simply want to alleviate their child's pain and probably considers a material such as amber to be much safer due to it being "natural". I assume most of the parents who swear by amber teething necklaces like to keep things in their home natural and avoid any processed materials, despite the fact that they may, in fact, be safer for their child.

Synthesize Evidence, Identify Alternatives: A much safer teething toy that is still fairly natural and is made with limited chemicals is the Calmies Natural Teething Toy. It is made of 100% natural rubbers and is "free from BPA or PVC." Healthline (July 26 2018) https://www.healthline.com/health/parenting/rashes-with-teething#prevention
This toy presents absolutely no choking hazards and is completely safe.
Overall: The parents who use amber teething necklaces are simply misguided. They are trying to do the best thing for their child but they aren't listening to doctors but rather falling for the pseudoscience that is "all natural". There are plenty other safe, doctor-recommended teething toys out there that are much better for a teething child.

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Definition: A reason for belief that stems from one trying to solve and unexplainable scenario in any way possible, usually resorting to supernatural or other-worldly explanations.

Example: The human brain will always find a way to explain things, and it loves mysteries and problems to solve. Sometimes this problem solving turns to the supernatural as a way to explain the unexplainable. An article on Psychology Today describes a study of how people explain the unexplained. They interviewed people of various ages and presented them with "unexplainable" scenarios and coincidences and asked them how or why they happened. They discovered that young children were most likely to find a realistic and natural reasoning for why something happened, while adults and older children often turned to the supernatural as an explanation for these scenarios.

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Imagine the following scenario: A man, let's call him Walter, works hard at his job every day, making barely enough money to survive, but still finds time to volunteer countless hours at the local animal shelter. He clearly loves animals and is selfless in his dedication to their welfare. One day as he's leaving the animal shelter and walking home, Walter stumbles upon a $100 bill on the sidewalk. There is no evidence of anyone around to whom it might belong.

How might you explain this sort of event? Or consider another, with a not so happy ending: A man named Doug, over a number of years, steals small amounts of money from his company. He eventually amasses enough money to buy a fancy car. On the first day of driving this new car Doug gets into an accident and the car is totaled.

In a study recently conducted in my lab Woolley, Cornelius, and Lacy, 2011, we presented adults and 6- to 12-year-old children with events like the ones above. They were all events that one might consider unusual or unexpected. Unlike expected or usual events (like, for example finding bread on the shelf when one goes shopping at the grocery store) unusual or unexpected events cry out for explanation: Why did this happen? How did this happen? Although the "How" question can often be answered with a straightforward physical answer (e.g., Doug was driving too fast), the "Why" question is trickier and often elicits a wide range of replies.

In a nutshell, what we found was quite surprising: Participants were MORE likely to use supernatural explanations for these sorts of events with age, rather than less likely. Specifically, adults spontaneously appealed to supernatural explanations more frequently than did children, and this tendency increased with age. Both the 6- and 8-year-olds seemed particularly driven to find a natural explanation for these events, even for ones adults seemed more comfortable explaining in supernatural terms. For example, one child spontaneously responded that a woman had suddenly recovered from a fatal illness "because.. she slept a lot" and another replied, regarding a very agile woman who tripped and fell at her wedding," because she tripped over a rock.. People usually trip over stuff." Older children and adults were more likely to refer to constructs such as God's will or plan, karma, and luck to explain these sorts of phenomena. Supernatural explanations were generally more often provided for stories with positive (e.g., Walter finds the money) versus negative (Doug crashes his car) endings. This may be because people may not want to believe that negative events can be caused by forces outside their control, and would rather believe that people cause their own problems. This possibility, along with other questions (e.g., how do young children learn about luck?), is currently being addressed in our lab.

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Imagine the following scenario: A man, let's call him Walter, works hard at his job every day, making barely enough money to survive, but still finds time to volunteer countless hours at the local animal shelter. He clearly loves animals and is selfless in his dedication to their welfare.

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Reason for Belief #2: Perception and Observation

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Reason for Belief #2: Perception and Observation

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Definition: This reason for belief describes how the difference between perception and observation are often confused. Perception is defined as being aware of something through our senses such as sight, sound, smell, etc. Observation is defined as the gaining of information through what we have perceived or noticed.

Example: A perfect example of perception and observation at play is optical illusions! I have been fascinated with illusions since I was a small child. The way that simple images can completely confuse our minds is so interesting to me. Many optical illusions play with your mind's need to solve things and find patterns. Certain illusions have images that actually appear different to different people. For example, the classic vase or two faces illusion. The illusion that I have attached above appears to be moving but is, in fact, a completely still image. Our brain perceives the bright colours and patterns and we observe that it's moving even though it isn't. This is how perception and observation works as a reason for belief. Our mind has the ability to make us believe that we saw, heard, or felt things that weren't actually there. That's the main reason why so many people believe in ghosts and spirits.

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Definition: A reason for belief based around one's religious, political, and social ideologies about specific things.

Example: I found a very interesting website while doing my research called pewforum.org which states various statistics across America. When finding examples of ideology as a reason for belief, I turned to the intersect between religion and  politics. I found that a whopping 85% of conservatives in America are Christian and that only 1% identify as Atheist. Personally I believe that this is a perfect, real world example of Ideology at play because it shows the direct ties between religious ideologies and political ideologies. Certain people tend to find it rather difficult to separate these two types of ideology and use their religious beliefs to back their political opinions.

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Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project

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Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics

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Explore the geographic distribution and demographics of America's major religious groups.

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Definition: This is when someone gets their point across simply by using many large, intelligent sounding words and often talking over other people or avoiding questions.

Example: For this red flag, I wanted to find a real life example to use. In doing my research I found a video of the former US President, Donald Trump being interviewed. Trump was talking about several things but mostly hate he gets on the internet and his thoughts on it. To me, this was a perfect example of proof by verbosity, as he was talking over the interviewer and ignoring his questions at several points during the interview. In doing so, he was ignoring crucial questions that may have deterred his point. He was getting his point across solely through talking, using big words, and ignoring questions. Even the interviewer seemed a bit bothered by this behavior at certain points.

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Definition: The act of ignoring, avoiding, or disregarding information that disproves one’s own point but highlighting information that proves one’s own point.

Example: In the video I have attached, Andreas Ekström talks about how moral bias and the public’s opinion of a person can impact search results. Confirmation Bias often plays a role in politics and news. Most news outlets are biased in some way and many politicians and their supporters use confirmation bias to prove their points more often than not. Andreas describes two instances where confirmation bias affected people's search results and how both situations were differently handled by google. The video is about 9 minutes long but I found it rather interesting.

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The moral bias behind your search results | Andreas Ekström

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Definition: Different from the scientific term of energy, mystical energy describes any sort of paranormal, supernatural, or other worldly force, often being described as coming from the universe.

Example: Crystals are beautiful, precious stones and rocks which form naturally in nature, but some believe they have healing capabilities. Many people (including myself from time to time) like carrying crystals with them to manifest certain positive energies into their lives. Others may use them to align their chakras or use them for meditation. Scientists have actually conducted research on if crystals do in fact have any healing capabilities. One study described in the article I have attached had people holding both fake and real crystals to see if their “energy” felt different. The results showed that most all believers felt a warm, tingling sensation when holding the crystals regardless of them being real or not.

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Elizabeth Peterson and Jonathan Gordon and Rachel Ross

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Crystal Healing: Stone-Cold Facts About Gemstone Treatments

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Crystal healing is an alternative medicine technique that is supposed to tap into natural healing energy.

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Definition: When an item is labeled as “All Natural” on products such as cosmetics, food, and skincare that often doesn’t have any actual certification and is merely a selling tactic. This red flag conditions people into believing that “all natural” is better than processed which isn’t always true.

Example: This red flag reminded me of a situation I saw on social media a few months back: The amber teething necklace craze. Amber teething necklaces are often given to babies and young children as an all natural way to help with teething pain, however they have caused many injuries and health risks to the children who have worn them. Many parents gave them to there children believing that the all natural amber would be better for their children than any sort of rubber or plastic teething toy. This quickly proved false, however, as the beads would often easily snap off the necklace becoming a choking hazard and the necklace in itself quickly became a strangulation hazard for young children. The idea of putting a rope of rocks around a child’s neck didn’t alarm many parents simply because it was labeled as “all natural” and “holistic” even though it’s an obvious choking hazard. This article explains the dangers of amber teething necklaces and warns parents not to use them.

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​​​​​When parents see their baby suffering, they just want a solution. Teething necklaces and beads have become an increasing popular alternative treatment to ease teething pain. But, are they effective and safe? The answer is no.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released an official warning in December 2018 after recieving reports of children choking on beads that break off and an 18-month-old being strangled to death by an amber necklace during a nap.

​Teething Necklaces: Watch Out For Faulty Claims

Teething necklaces and bracelets are made of amber, wood, marble or silicone. They are marketed to relieve teething pain and sometimes are used to provide sensory stimulation to people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, the use of these necklaces is not supported by modern science. Retailers claim that when warmed by the baby's body temperature, the amber releases a pain-relieving substance that is then absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream. Additionally, promoters claim that they stimulate the thyroid gland (to control drooling) and improve the ability of the immune system to reduce inflammation in the ears, throat, stomach and respiratory system. However, there is currently no scientific research or evidence to back up these claims.

Why These Teething Necklaces and Beads are Choking and Strangulation Hazards:

"The risk is two-fold - strangulation and choking," said pediatrician Natasha Burgert, MD, FAAP. It occurs when the necklaces are worn around a child's neck, especially when unsupervised (such as while sleeping) or if the child were to break the necklace and swallow the beads. However, those risks are not only for these teething necklaces.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not recommend that infants wear any jewelry. Suffocation is the leading cause of death for children under a year old and among the top five causes of death for children between the ages of 1 and 4.

Parents who choose to use these necklaces are advised to:

Always supervise your child when he or she is wearing the necklace or bracelet.

Have your child wear the necklace on a wrist or ankle and not around his or her neck.

Remember to remove the necklace or bracelet when your child is unattended, even if it is only for a short period of time!

Remove the necklace or bracelet while your child is sleeping (day or night).

Consider using alternate forms of teething pain relief (see suggestions below).

Talk to your child's pediatrician if you have concerns or questions about your child's health.

Safer Ways to Soothe a Teething Baby:

There are many teething-pain relievers that can soothe your baby's sore gums safely. Here are a few worth trying:

Chew toys. Plastic and rubber toys are great for soothing aching gums.

Cold things. For help numbing and easing the ache and inflammation, try using damp washcloths that have been twisted and frozen (tie one end in a knot for better gnawing). Avoid teething rings that are frozen solid; they are too hard for children's mouths.

Massage. A light, gentle rub or massage might give your little one a lot of relief. Remember to wash your hands, then massage the sore areas in your baby's mouth with your finger or knuckle.

Medicine. When your baby is having a really tough time, ask your pediatrician about giving a dose of acetaminophen (Tylenol). Note: Numbing gels or creams that contain benzocaine are not recommended for infants.

Additional Information:

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amber~ amber necklace~ teething necklace~ amber teether~ teething~ faulty claims~ alternative treatment~ jewelry~ suffocation~ bead~ choke~ swallow~ chew toys~ massage~ no proof~ teether~ ice~ cold~ gums~ injury~ alternative~

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Teething Necklaces and Beads: A Caution for Parents

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​The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not recommend that infants wear any jewelry. Suffocation is the leading cause of death for children under a year old and among the top five causes of death for children between the ages of 1 and 4.

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Red Flag #1: Confusion of Causation and Correlation

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Red Flag #1: Confusion of Causation and Correlation

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Definition: A phenomenon that happens when people mistake coincidences of events as being a direct causation of one another. Often used in propaganda to trick people into thinking  that two unrelated events have any connection.

Example: Back in the 50’s, when there was much less scientific research being conducted, there was plenty of propaganda to convince people to buy cigarettes. As we know today, smoking definitely causes lung cancer, but that wasn’t quite common knowledge back then. Many cigarette companies used the “correlation does not equal causation” argument when it came to the connection between smoking and lung cancer. They would say that perhaps people that were already more predisposed to developing lung cancer were simply more likely to enjoy cigarettes, or even that the connection between smoking and lung cancer was a mere coincidence. Here I have attached an article from towardsdatascience.com explaining this example in greater detail.

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Does lung cancer cause smoking?

Photo by Sajjad Zabihi on Unsplash

Smoking cigarettes, as we know today, causes lung cancer. However, that fact was not entirely clear in the 1950s, when the first studies showing a correlation between smoking and lung cancer were published. One of the skeptics was statistician R.A. Fisher, who reasoned that the causality could be the other way around:

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Smoking cigarettes, as we know today, causes lung cancer. However, that fact was not entirely clear in the 1950s, when the first studies showing a correlation between smoking and lung cancer were published. One of the skeptics was statistician R.A.

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By: Frankie Gennaro