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When model Gisele Bündchen posted a photo of herself and her young child on Instagram this summer, the snapshot, which showed her infant daughter wearing tiny earrings, ignited debate on blogs about the appropriate age for ear piercing. But a more serious concern, missed in many of the discussions, was the delicate necklace of amber beads looped around the baby’s neck.

Baltic amber necklaces, as they are known, have become popular as an alternative treatment to ease teething pain in infants and toddlers in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and, increasingly, the United States. 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.

But there is no evidence to back up these claims, and a larger concern is the significant suffocation hazard posed by the teething necklaces, particularly if children are left unattended.

“The risk is two-fold — strangulation and choking,” said Dr. Natasha Burgert, a pediatrician in Kansas City, Mo., who has blogged about the dangers of amber necklaces. “And that’s not only for these teething necklaces. In general practice, the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn’t recommend that infants wear any jewelry.”

In 2010, Health Canada, the country’s federal department of public health, determined that the necklaces were enough of an issue to warrant a consumer product safety warning that highlighted the strangulation risk. France and Switzerland have banned sale of the necklaces in pharmacies.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 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.

Vendors of Baltic amber necklaces commonly advertise that the necklaces are safe because the string is knotted between each individual bead, so if the necklace breaks only one piece will fall off. But one loose bead is enough for a child to choke on, said Dr. Isabelle Claudet, head of the pediatric emergency department at Children’s Hospital in Toulouse, France. And because the necklaces are produced and sold by smaller vendors, the lack of manufacturing standards makes it impossible to guarantee that any safety clasps will come apart as intended if the necklace becomes caught on anything, increasing the potential for strangulation.

A study published in 2012 in The Archives of Pediatrics by Dr. Claudet and her colleagues explored why parents continued to put amber necklaces on their children, even when some were aware of the suffocation risk. In the parents’ minds, they concluded, the immediate stress over seeing their child in teething distress typically outweighed the more abstract possibility of choking or strangulation.

In place of amber necklaces, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends several remedies for teething pain that aren’t potential safety hazards. Doctors suggest lightly massaging the gums of babies who are teething or giving them things to chew on that are cold but pliable, like damp washcloths that have been twisted and frozen, and rubber teething rings. They caution against giving children teething rings that have frozen solid, however, because they are too hard for children’s mouths.

For intense pain, a dose of acetaminophen, or Tylenol, is fine, but parents should be wary of giving children younger than two years old oral anesthetic gels and liquids that contain benzocaine, like Orajel and Anbesol. The Food and Drug Administration has warned that benzocaine can sometimes cause a rare but dangerous condition called methemoglobinemia, in which the oxygen in the blood stream becomes dangerously low, leading to symptoms like pale skin and lips, fatigue, confusion, headache and elevated heart rate.

“When people see their kid suffering, they just want a solution,” said Dr. Burgert. Homeopathic products like amber necklaces may seem like a safer alternative to medication, she said, but there are risks associated with those, too. In addition to the A.A.P. suggestions, Dr. Burgert, a mother herself, recommends giving teething children partially frozen fruit.