Dental Work and pregnancy

[denise_m09]

I have to get my wisdom teeth extracted.  They have to put me to sleep.  I am 11.6 weeks pregnant. Will I be able to have my teeth extracted and put to sleep.  I've been putting it off to get it done for the past 6 months (i am deathly afraid of dentists) and now, i have too. its beginning to bother me now.  I will discouss this with my ob on Friday, but would like to know how you feel.

[Regggie]

I had to give birth completely asleep, long story, but they HAD to put me out for the C Section because I can't be numbed. Anyway, the "gassing guy" (can't spell the other word!) came in for a pre visit before the attempted numbing and went over how it would all go down. He said they never put you "to sleep" because it is dangerous for the baby ect....Then, behold! I couldn't be numbed so they HAD to gas me. They did ALL the pre work INCLUDING PUTTING IN THE CATHETER while i was fully awake and not numb. It was not plesant, but all the Dr's in the room (there were many due to my not numbing issue) said they wanted me out for as short a time as poss for the safety of the baby. They said min can make a difference and it was not good for the baby for me to be out. I am just offering this, I don't know what your OB will say, but I was in a VERY GOOD private hospital and they were concerned about how long I was out.

[popeyesgirl06]

My daughter was faced with this very same issue and her dentist wouldn't do anything until after the baby was born. I believe that maybe he didn't want to be liable, which I can understand.
Just make sure your dentist/oral surgeon knows that you are pregnant and how far along you are. I know this pain s*cks and you probably wish now that it was over with before you got pregnant. I am terrified of dentists, ugh!

Good Luck!

[denise_m09]

thanks ladies.  I am going to have to get this done as soon as possible.  I will check with my oral surgeon and then relaty this info to my ob.  I truly want to be put to sleep i f i can.  I dont want to feel any pain or pressure.

[leighanne143]

that's funny cause i just talked to my oral surgeon about this today.  he said that they have done tooth extractions without problems in the 2nd trimester and that you can opt for the sleep method.  he said that the medications they use to put you out are pregnancy safe.  He did say that i could talk to my doctor more about it but that he has done this procedure many times on pregnant women.  good luck and i hope you are able to have it done cause wisdom teeth pain is horrible,  I just had all 4 of mine out in april.

[adgal]

If you have to get it done, then you have to get it done.  Ignoring it can lead to infection, abcess's, etc.  However, you don't actually have to be put to sleep.  My first career (mind you, this was 15 years ago) was a CDA (dental assistant), and no matter how impacted the teeth were, it was rarely necessary to be put out completely. That was more commonly done to lessen the fear of the patient.  If they are really infected already then that would be another reason to be put out completely, but the infection would have to be pretty serious.

I would ask your Dentist beforehand what drugs he plans to use and then check it out with both your OB and a pharmacist.  Ask him about all the options, and talk to him about whats safest for the baby.   Also, afterward your dentist will almost always prescribe some sort of pain control, and often an antiboitic.  I would again find out what he plans to prescribe, check them out, and if they are not safe, look for other options.  There are usually several drugs they will do the same thing for you, but have different levels of risk for the fetus.  Example, the antibiotic tetracycline is not a good one for pregnant women as it can cause mottling of the teeth for your baby in the future.  Other antibiotics are a lot safer for you to take.

I guess it all comes down to what the lesser of two evils is.  But get all the information you can from your dentist and check it all out with your OB and a pharmacist.  

Best of luck to you, I wish you well...and don't worry, I had my wisdom teeth out many years ago, they were badly impacted, and it was not a bad procedure at all.  I was awake, and all I felt was pressure on my jaw...no pain at all.