Pregnancy is an exciting and busy time in a woman’s life, but pregnant women should be certain to take care of their dental health for themselves and their babies.
The good news is that most routine treatment is safe during pregnancy, though during the first 3 months some procedures and medications should be avoided.
The most important thing is to be sure that your My Local Dentists Northmead dentist knows you are pregnant and how far along you are.
Here are 4 key strategies:
1) Keep your teeth and gums healthy. Gum disease can cause premature birth or a low birth weight baby. Keeping your gums health also stops the transfer of decay-causing bacteria from you to your baby, and possibly early childhood tooth decay.
2) Avoid or treat sickness, vomiting and acid reflux. Pregnant women who experience morning sickness with vomiting and/or acid reflux are at higher risk of tooth erosion.
There are ways to reduce this risk, including rinsing your mouth with water or mouth rinse, chewing sugar free gum, smearing a bit of toothpaste over your teeth, and waiting 30 minutes before brushing after vomiting.
3) Many women can develop gum disease during pregnancy because of natural hormonal changes in the body. Make sure to treat your teeth and gums early, to avoid this.
Signs of gum disease include bleeding gums, red gums (instead of pink), swollen gums, and bad breath.
4) Quit smoking! Smoking while pregnant is not good for you or your unborn baby, and can lead to gum disease. In fact, you should quit all tobacco products, if you are pregnant or not!
Talk to your Northmead dentist at My Local Dentists Northmead about how to treat your dental health before, during, and after pregnancy! We’re here for you and your family!
Contact us on (02) 9630 9996.