Teething in 18th Century: comparison among Edinburgh, Glasgow and London.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, teething was believed to be common cause of death in infants. A contemporary publication (The Scots Magazine) gives the annual causes of death in Edinburgh and London between the years 1739-92. The figures reveal that there were more deaths from teething in Edinburgh than London, although the reasons for this were not explained. One possibility is that the mechanism of recording the deaths was not medically valid.