Do a good job of pre-pregnancy check-up to avoid toothache during pregnancy

Toothache during pregnancy is difficult to treat

As a senior dentist, I often see this situation in clinical practice: a husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law, or father or mother brings a pregnant woman with a big belly to see a doctor. The pregnant woman looks tired and tells you in pain that her tooth has been hurting for several days. She is afraid that the treatment will affect the baby in her belly, so she wants to bear it for a few days and then treat it after giving birth. As a result, the pain becomes more and more severe, and she can't bear it anymore, so she has to go to the hospital for treatment. But she didn't expect that after going to several hospitals, no one dared to see her because she was pregnant.

Faced with such patients, even experienced clinicians are in a dilemma: if they don’t treat it, the pain of acute pulpitis is the kind of “deadly pain” that everyone knows, which is very unbearable and may develop into alveolar abscess, or even bacteremia and sepsis, endangering the lives of mother and child; but if they treat it, for such patients, the use of radiation for filming and anesthetic drugs for pain relief are restricted, which will bring great difficulties to diagnosis and treatment. Of course, if all possible situations are fully considered, with the cooperation of the pregnant woman and the understanding of the family, there are ways to carry out emergency treatment, but both doctors and patients will bear great risks.

How to avoid toothache during pregnancy

So is there any way to avoid this? The answer is: Of course there is! And it is easy to do. This is what we are talking about pre-pregnancy oral care.

Most women in my country know that they need to undergo a series of examinations before pregnancy and take some health care measures to ensure the safety of pregnancy and the healthy growth of the fetus. These examinations are mainly for the screening of systemic diseases. However, oral health care has become a forgotten corner. Strengthening oral health awareness during pregnancy and establishing good oral health care habits during pregnancy are effective measures to avoid oral diseases and pain during pregnancy.

How to take good care of your oral health before pregnancy

So, what does pre-pregnancy oral care include?

1. Receive training from a professional to understand the significance and characteristics of oral health care during pregnancy, and learn to correctly select and implement personal oral health care measures, such as: brushing methods, toothpaste selection, fluoride application, use of dental floss, etc.

2. You should have a routine oral examination before planning to become pregnant; your doctor will develop an oral health care plan and necessary treatment plan for different stages of pregnancy based on the examination results.

3. Have a supragingival scaling surgery in a regular hospital or dental clinic to remove tartar and plaque to avoid gingival bleeding and pregnancy gingivitis caused by irritation to the gums.

4. Treat existing diseases in the oral cavity: caries, pulp disease, gingivitis, periodontitis and pericoronitis of wisdom teeth, etc. Teeth with caries or toothache must be treated before pregnancy to prevent toothache during pregnancy. Expectant mothers wearing porcelain teeth should also have a doctor check to ensure that the treatment is appropriate and there will be no problems during pregnancy.

5. Preventive extraction of wisdom teeth: If the wisdom teeth in the mouth do not erupt normally, they should be extracted early, because the chance of pericoronitis pain is relatively high during pregnancy. Therefore, after the pre-pregnancy check-up, wisdom teeth that are inflamed or may become inflamed should be extracted in advance to avoid future troubles.

As long as we do a good job of pre-pregnancy oral examination and receive appropriate treatment according to the doctor's advice, we can effectively reduce or even avoid oral diseases and unnecessary pain during pregnancy. Once oral problems occur, pregnant women are not recommended to bear them on their own, but should listen to the doctor's advice and take necessary treatment and protective measures.