I had a dentist appointment this morning. You’d be surprised how hard it is to find a decent dentist in my area. I asked several colleagues and friends who all replied, ” Oh, yes, I have a dentist, but I don’t really like him.” I asked my doctors, too, but most of them didn’t have any good suggestions, either. Finally my Endo suggested the guy who works in the same building, so I gave him a try. It took me over a month to get in.
As a diabetic, I know how important dental health is, and I also recently learned that your mouth can kind of fall apart during pregnancy (see Resources below). But the whole dentist thing does fall off the end of my to-do list with frightening regularity. About a month ago, I noticed a sore spot in my gum between my teeth, though. So even though it has been over a year since I had made it into a dentist’s office, I started looking in earnest for someone to scrape the plaque off of my teeth.
The visit started out simply enough. The hygienist was nice and did a good job of babying my sensitive teeth. She agreed that I had some redness in my gums where I have noticed some pain. She says this is typical during pregnancy and that all of my gum levels were within the normal range, even the red spots. So it is NOT gingivitis.
But then the dentist came in. He found two potential cavities. Ugh. I am such a baby when it comes to fillings. He confirmed that my gums are fine, and complimented my orthodontist on the “work or art” that is my permanent retainer. He wanted to do an x-ray to confirm the cavities. I was nervous about the effect of the radiation on the baby, but he reassured me that the radiation for the bitewing x-ray is very focused just on my cheek and teeth and they put two of those vests on my belly as an extra precaution.
The x-ray confirmed just one cavity. The other one was a false alarm. He next told me that the filling procedure can also be done during pregnancy and that the Novocaine is such a small amount that it should not be a problem for the baby.
But I am such a chicken. And Novocaine makes me feel loopy … surely that loopiness would make it to the baby, too? I hemmed and hawed a little, and then decided to wait on the filling. He said it could wait until after the birth as long as I promise to floss and rinse with fluoride mouthwash daily. No problem.
At my next appointment in six months, they will clean my teeth, look for new cavities, and then fill the existing one. It will be about a month after the birth … I hope I am healthy enough to handle it.
Resources
- Mouth and Tooth Changes During Pregnancy, http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/preg_mouth_tooth.htm
- Pregnancy and Swollen Gums (Also known as Pregnancy Gingivitis) http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/swollengums.html
- Diabetes and Your Oral Health http://www.ada.org/public/topics/diabetes_faq.asp
- Diabetes and Oral Health Problems http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/oral-health-and-hygiene/diabetes-and-oral.html
A sweet journey to motherhood 