Dental work whilst pregnant?

dreambirdie

looking for some advice

i went to the dentist for a checkup and he said as i am pregnant i cant have any work done including fillings, teeth cleaning, x-rays etc.

he discovered i needed a filling, so he told me to come back after the baby was born to have it done BUT then said if it was really bothering me and if it was really sore or anything to go back and he would do it while im pregnant??

im so confused i thought you werent allowed to get any work done when pregnant and he told me that aswell...but then told me i maybe could?

reason im asking is now it is starting to irritate me and cold drinks etc = ouch ouch ouch!!

weeneldo

The thing with giving any medical treatment in pregnancy is that it isn't always black and white. Whoever's treating you has to balance out the potential benefits to you with the potential risk to your baby.

The reason that he will initially have told you to wait would be to try and make everything extra safe. After all, if something can wait then why not do it when there's absolutely no risk? Having a filling put in is very unlikely to result in any kind of complication but obviously your dentist would want to make 100% sure.

However, if you are experiencing pain, his view will be that the benefit of giving you the treatment now outweighs any potential risk to the baby. With dental problems you might run the risk of getting a gum infection and the pain will give you extra stress. Leaving the dental problem to develop might result in you having to take strong painkillers or getting a really bad infection and the dental work required if you get an abcess is going to be a lot worse than the work needed for a filling.

Having a filling put in is very low risk and his initial advice not to get work done would just have been to play it totally safe for things that could just as easily wait. If it starts to get really painful then this means it can no longer wait and the best thing would be to get the filling.

Toothsmith

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having your teeth cleaned whilst pregnant.

In fact, it's one thing that should probably be done MORE gven that gums are probably a bit more prone to bleeding and problems whilst pregnant.

Fillings can be put off, providing they are small, but there's no real reason to.

I have big alarm bells ringing here if he really said 'no cleanups' though. Strikes me that it's just an over-busy practice looking for any excuse to not treat people.

RebekahR

My sister needed a filling doing as she was in pain. But he said to leave it until after the pregnancy. She is due in August. And it got worse 2 weeks later. She went back and had no pain relief ... he removed the filling and put on a cap. It would appear the root has died so she will need root canal 3 weeks after the birth he said.

dreambirdie

he definately said no cleaning whilst pregnant. he said the tooth was still alive and it would be ok to september. im afraid it will die or something and i will have to get it out? it is really starting to bother me i got a bit of food stuck in it the other day and when picking it out it i must of hit a nerve it was so so sore. i will try and hold off a bit longer before getting him to fill it.

thanks for the advice

honeypop

I needed a filling while pregnant, and the dentist did a 'temporary filling' to last me 6 months-ish until after the birth when I could return for the real thing. They keep cancelling my appointment and it's now been in there about a year with no problems.

Could they do a temporary filling for you?

dreambirdie

i'll ring them and ask about a temporary filling ive never heard of that before!

Toothsmith

I really would get a new dentist if I were you.

That one sounds clueless! He's probably never heard of temporary filling either! Not that that should really be used. There is no problem doing a proper filling in a pregnant lady.

rolleypolleypud

Hi

I went to the dentist just after I found out I was pregnant. It was just a check up but I knew I would need work doing as I have cracked my wisdom tooth in half.
I was told that I couldn't have any work done until after I have had the baby so she just put a temp filling in (it has fallen out now because there isn't enought tooth to hold it in).
I'm lucky in that it's not hurting me at the min but she has told me it will need to be pulled after my baby is born:eek:

My dentist did clean my teeth and told me to come back for a check up in 3 months instead of the usual 6 because teeth and gums are prone to bleed more during pregnancy and there also more fragile (this is what my dentist told me)

If your with a NHS dentist and not happy with them I think you can go onto the NHS website and they have a list of available NHS dentist's you could see if there are any alternatives near to where you live.

Hope you get it sorted soon:)

Toothsmith

That's probably true if you are being referred into hospital to have it done under general anaesthetic, but simple extractions under local anaesthetic wouldn't be a problem.

esio_trot

well, I, at 32 weeks pregnant, am in the middle of a course of very extensive treatment as a result of discrete dental decay (?) caused by years of bulimia and dental avoidance. Seemingly my teeth look fine externally, but the dentin is all falling apart inside.

It is perfectly possible, and safe, to have dental treatment when carrying a baby. Most dentists won't place amalgam (metal) fillings because of the mercury content but temporary composite fillings are generally thought to be OK. I've had permanent composites in 3 of my teeth and more recently (yesterday!) about 5 temporary (mix of small and very deep) fillings plus a wisdom tooth extraction under local (granted fairly straight forward and no general needed)

I'd listen to the advice of others around here and think about changing your dentist. He seems like he's either clueless, or fobbing you off.

ETA: only way my treatment might have been dangerous is that baby doesn't much like the sound of the drill and gave me a good few kicks through the 45 minute appointment!