Don’t worry, pregnant women, there are some tips to achieve painless and comfortable oral treatment!

Author: Wan Kuo, Chief Physician, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Reviewer: Ma Liangkun, Chief Physician, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

"Painless dental treatment", as the name suggests, means that the patient will hardly feel any pain during the treatment. "Comfortable dental treatment" uses behavioral management, drug sedation and other measures to make patients who are afraid of dental care no longer so afraid, and patients who are unwilling to cooperate with dental care to cooperate, and sometimes even make the entire dental care process very comfortable. There are many technologies that can be used to go from painless to comfortable. Many pregnant women have doubts about dental care and are worried that it will harm their babies. Today, we will answer your doubts and let pregnant women truly achieve painless and comfortable dental treatment and have a better experience during dental care.

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1. Is it safe for pregnant women to see a dentist?

Systemic drugs are rarely used during oral treatment. Local anesthetics are more commonly used. The dosage of the drugs is very small, and the fetus can only absorb a very small amount. In addition, the most commonly used examination method for oral treatment is X-rays. The dosage of this examination is also very small. For example, when taking a root apex film of a tooth, the radiation dose absorbed by a pregnant woman is only equivalent to the radiation dose in nature for 3 days, and the doctor will protect the pregnant woman's abdomen well when taking the film. The current relevant guidelines all mention that routine local anesthesia and diagnostic radiological examinations during oral treatment are safe for pregnant women.

Of course, one problem pregnant women have to face during dental treatment is pain stimulation. In fact, not only pregnant women, but even ordinary people have a strong stress response during dental treatment. Severe pain stimulation may lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as miscarriage and premature birth. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of pregnant women, especially high-risk pregnant women, it is necessary to implement painless and comfortable dental treatment for them.

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2. How to achieve painless and comfortable oral treatment for pregnant women

1. Communicate, exchange and evaluate fully

Once oral treatment is implemented, if it cannot be completed, it will cause additional harm to pregnant women. Therefore, pre-treatment evaluation is particularly important. The doctor will first evaluate the pregnant woman's general condition to see if she has high-risk factors for premature birth or miscarriage, and consult an obstetrician if necessary. The doctor should also learn in detail about the pregnant woman's previous oral treatment experience and tolerance to stimulation to evaluate the feasibility of the treatment plan. At the same time, pregnant women should tell the doctor why they are afraid of dental care and what stimulation they can't stand the most, so that the doctor can develop an individualized comfort treatment plan for pregnant women. Of course, pregnant women can also evaluate the technical capabilities of the medical institution they receive to see if the medical institution is capable of implementing painless and comfortable conventional treatment techniques and whether it can deal with some conditions that are prone to miscarriage or premature birth in a timely manner. Both parties should be "well-informed" when evaluating, so that the treatment process can be "easy".

2. Make dental care painless

If you want to see a dentist without pain, it is mainly achieved by administering anesthesia. For pregnant women, it is very safe to use local anesthesia when seeing a dentist. Without local anesthesia, the stimulation caused by the pain is very dangerous. In most cases, existing oral treatment technology can complete pain control during treatment through local anesthesia. Some patients may have questions: "I agree with the safety of anesthesia, but the injection is too painful. What should I do if I still can't accept it?" In fact, with the development of modern medical technology, injecting anesthesia in the mouth can basically be painless. This is the oral painless local anesthesia injection technology advocated in recent years. By using special equipment, the entire injection process can be made basically painless, and some doctors with more advanced skills can even make it completely painless.

3. Manage fear and anxiety during dental visits

For the general population, there are many effective measures such as oral medication sedation, laughing gas (nitrous oxide) sedation, intravenous sedation, etc. However, for pregnant women, considering the impact on the fetus, doctors will be more cautious when using systemic drugs, and mainly focus on communication, exchange, and behavior management. If auxiliary sedation measures are necessary, laughing gas can be used for sedation. Laughing gas is not metabolized through the blood, but is directly discharged from the respiratory tract. It can take effect immediately, and the body will metabolize it immediately after stopping, and the impact on the fetus is relatively small.

4. Other measures

Other measures are also important to improve the comfort of pregnant women during dental care. For example, adjusting the position of pregnant women during dental care, especially those who are heavier in the third trimester, should avoid orthostatic hypotension. Using rubber dams (separating the teeth to be treated from the oral environment, like putting on a "small raincoat" for the teeth) can reduce the feeling of nausea during treatment, especially for pregnant women who have a more severe reaction to morning sickness. In addition, trying to control the treatment time can reduce the discomfort of pregnant women, especially those who are at higher risk of premature birth.

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3. Tips for pregnant women to see a dentist

1. Maternal oral hygiene habits can affect the baby

Through close contact such as breastfeeding, some oral hygiene habits of mothers will affect the baby. Therefore, for the future oral health of the baby, mothers should treat oral diseases as early as possible and develop good oral hygiene habits as early as possible.

2. There is no time limit for pregnant women to see the dentist

“Don’t go to the dentist during the confinement period” is a wrong idea. You can go to the dentist as long as you can move freely after giving birth.

3. Some routine dental measures have no effect on babies

X-ray examinations and local anesthesia are required when seeing a dentist. These measures will not affect milk secretion and have no effect on the baby. In addition, conventional dental treatment materials will not affect milk secretion. Therefore, seeing a dentist for mothers is the same as seeing a dentist for the general population. The only difference is that when using systemic medications, the doctor will choose medications that are good for the health of the baby.

In short, achieving painless and comfortable oral treatment for pregnant women is an important means to ensure the health of mother and baby. It can effectively solve oral problems, reduce psychological pressure, improve the quality of life, and allow pregnant women to spend the entire pregnancy and postpartum stage more at ease and comfortably.