Dentistry and pregnancy
Expecting mothers are very frequently troubled by heightened tooth sensitivity, swollen gums and tooth decay. Many people accept this as an inevitable part of pregnancy. Although it is true that during this time your hormones change and this makes your teeth more sensitive, and since you share an immune system with your child while it is in the womb, you are more likely to contract tooth decay. But pregnancy does not necessarily mean that you have to suffer with bad teeth.
Common problems, like tooth sensitivity, tooth decay, or swollen and inflamed gums, can be avoided by maintaining a rigorous and routine at home oral hygiene routine. Make sure you change your toothbrush often, and have a good toothbrush, good toothpaste and dental floss, mouthwash available!
About wisdom teeth
Wisdom teeth are frequently responsible for many different dental problems. Even if you are very meticulous in cleaning them, you may still encounter problems, as frequently wisdom teeth do not have enough space to erupt into. Improperly growing wisdom teeth can cause crowding which harms and damages teeth near the wisdom teeth, which can be extremely painful, and removing them may become necessary.
Wisdom teeth extractions
If the teeth have fully erupted, than the procedure is no different from a routine tooth extraction. But very frequently, wisdom teeth do not erupt all the way, and remain, at least partially impacted underneath the gums. Their inability to erupt or grow properly leads to crowding, as they are pushing on the rest of the teeth, and to tooth decay, as they cannot be properly cleaned. In these cases removing the wisdom teeth is especially important, but is more complicated, as the dentist will need to result to oral surgery. This requires local anaesthetic, and implies an invasive intervention in which the wisdom tooth is removed, and a few stitches to close the thus created aperture.
Wisdom tooth extraction during pregnancy
Because wisdom tooth extraction is an invasive oral surgical procedure, it is best to do it after delivery. We strongly recommend getting an in depth dental analysis of your present condition before getting pregnant. How your teeth are will affect the health of your foetus, and it is best to avoid pain while pregnant. If at all possible, take care of all dental problems you may have before getting pregnant, so as to only have to go to the dentist for check-ups until the baby is born.
But accidents and unforeseen problems do occur, and the extraction of the wisdom tooth becomes inevitable. This does not mean you should panic! Wisdom tooth extraction is possible while pregnant.
Modern medicine has the means to produce pain killers and anaesthetics that do not affect the foetus in utero. Dental x-rays, contrary to popular belief, are completely harmless and will not affect the development or wellbeing of you or your foetus.
The most important thing though, is to consult with your dentist before getting any sort of dental procedures done. Dental procedures performed in the second half of the second trimester, and in the entirety of the third trimester are mostly harmless. In fact, going to routine check-ups will do the baby good, as it will remove bacteria from your body.
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