How pregnancy affects the teeth

Pregnancy is a woman's physiological situation in which it is especially important to be healthy. In adulthood, it is desirable to have a checkup with the dentist at least once a year. If in these reviews any incipient pathology is seen, it will be treated and it will be of little magnitude. If we d

If we do not go to the dentist, nothing more than when we already feel discomfort, surely that is because there is already something sick. It is not possible to enjoy a healthy pregnancy if there is a problem in the mouth, even if it has not been diagnosed. That is, a healthy mouth does not get sick during pregnancy, but a diseased mouth gets worse during these months.

How changes affect pregnancy in the teeth

During the first trimester it is usual to suffer vomiting of greater or lesser intensity. The acid from the stomach, also if there is reflux, affects the enamel of the teeth, typically from the upper incisors on the palate. To prevent this type of injury, it will be necessary to reinforce the enamel against the acid using dentifrices with a very high fluoride concentration, and to complement it with the use of specific mouthwashes.

The usual tips of eat many times a day, have cookies on the table for when these discomforts happen, make the mouth constantly be in a process of demineralization that can end up producing tooth decay or erosions. Also, the increase in the glucose needs in the last quarter cause that you want to constantly consume sweet foods, increasing the risk of decay.

But if before the pregnancy the mouth was healthy, there were no interdental caries (that are discovered in the periodic reviews), it is normal that they do not appear during the pregnancy. What will happen is that those undiagnosed will be aggravated. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for women who consult for major pain a few weeks, or even days, before giving birth.

Dental treatments during pregnancy

If necessary, the dentist can and must perform the necessary treatments to solve the dental pathology suffered by the pregnant woman. In case of being an emergency, it will act immediately; otherwise the best quarter to deal with will be the second. Taking the necessary precautions x-rays can be done (a periapical radiograph with digital apparatus represents the same amount of radiation as a plane trip).

In addition to the problems in the teeth, the other workhorse are the gums. In pregnant women it is physiological an increase in gingival bleeding, and other characteristic lesions that disappear after delivery. But the presence of tartar, the exudate of pus under the gums, and other variables, must be eliminated. The risk of premature delivery or of having a low birth weight as a result of undiagnosed or untreated gum diseases has been demonstrated a long time ago. Let's not leave, therefore, to go to the dentist before and during pregnancy to make sure we maintain the state of oral health and therefore general.