Orthodontics during pregnancy

When we become pregnant it is inevitable to start thinking about what routines can affect our baby ... Wicks or hair dyes, gym, cellulite care are called into question and this also happens with people who they are in orthodontic treatment. Many pregnant women who know it recently come to my office

When we become pregnant it is inevitable to start thinking about what routines can affect our baby ... Wicks or hair dyes, gym, cellulite care are called into question and this also happens with people who they are in orthodontic treatment.

Many pregnant women who know it recently come to my office worried about whether orthodontic treatment is convenient during pregnancy.

Is orthodontics harmful during pregnancy?

First we should distinguish between three types of pregnant women:

1. Patients who have already started orthodontics and want to get pregnant during treatment se or have heard the happy news when they were already wearing orthodontic appliances ask me: Is orthodontic treatment harmful to my baby? Absolutely. It is necessary that you tell your orthodontist that you are expecting a baby so that he does not perform any dental x-ray from the moment you know it, or from the moment you start trying to get pregnant. Dentists always treat women of childbearing age looking for a pregnancy as if they were already pregnant because they really can be pregnant and not knowing it.

2. Another group of patients are

those who want to start orthodontic treatment but would like to get pregnant during the time it lasts. Orthodontic treatments are sometimes long treatments. There are many times when I recommend young women to get orthodontic treatment and I tell them about the duration (between 12 and 24 months normally) they ask me: Can I get pregnant during treatment? and my answer is: 'once we have done the x-rays you can'.

I recommend these patients on many occasions to correct mild problems especially aesthetic that are made with removable techniques that we perform in the practice

such as removable brackets (a very innovative technique with excellent results) or practically invisible techniques Invisalign type . I do it because these techniques, as I said before, allow patients to maintain excellent hygiene during treatment, reduce urgency and pain in the consultation, they can retire at specific moments (in this case, delivery) and allow treatment to continue during prolonged absences3. The other group of patients are

those who being pregnant previously want to start orthodontic treatment . In this caseI do not recommend it at all since in order to make a good diagnostic study and a good orthodontic treatment planning it is necessary to carry out a series of diagnostic tests, some of them, such as the molds of the mouth, the photographs of the face and teeth and the records of the patient's bite do not imply any risk for the pregnant woman or the baby, but other essential tests to make a good diagnosis are a PANORAMIC RADIOGRAPHY (to be able to see all the teeth among other things) and a SKULL LATERAL RADIOGRAPHY (to diagnose problems of skeletal disproportion among other things).