Hope Restorative & Cosmetic Dentistry

Whitening Toothpastes While Pregnant

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I wanted to get my teeth whitened but my dentist said it isn’t approved for use during pregnancy. I totally get that and don’t want to do anything to harm my baby. I was wondering if I could use a whitening toothpaste instead?

Cammie

Pregnant Woman in Dental Chair
Taking care of your teeth is as important as taking care of your baby when you’re pregnant.

Dear Cammie,

It’s great that you are looking out for your little one and double checking before you move forward. While whitening toothpaste won’t harm your baby, as long as you use it as directed, it will harm your teeth.

Whitening toothpastes are more abrasive than other types of toothpastes. Yes, that characteristic does help scrub off superficial stains, but it also makes micro-scratches on your tooth enamel. This will cause them to pick up more stains. This means you’ll keep using the whitening toothpaste to remove them.

Continued scratching of your enamel weakens it. Making you more susceptible to decay. Your best bet is to just continue with good oral habits and get professional teeth whitening after your baby is born.

Dental Care While Pregnant

You don’t need to avoid the dentist altogether though. In fact, it is healthier for you and your child if you continue with checkups and cleanings. Timed well, you’d only need to have one checkup during your pregnancy.

If possible, time it for during your second trimester. The reason for this is you’ll tend to be more prone to nausea during your first trimester and in your third trimester you are much larger leading to discomfort with long stints in one position. The second trimester is like the dream comfort zone.

What If a Problem Develops?

Let’s say you develop a dental infection during your pregnancy. Is it safe to get it treated or do you need to wait until after birth? Unless you are in a special high risk category, it is always better to get dental infections dealt with. There are two reasons for this:

  1. Dental Infections are considered dental emergencies. Dental infections spread. That could mean passing the bacteria to your baby, or even having the infection to spread into your heart or brain.
  2. Bacteria from infections has a connection to low birth rate. This puts your baby at risk.

It is much more important for you and your special one to get that infection taken care of. Your dentist will know any precautions which need to be taken.

This blog is brought to you by Tulsa Dentist Dr. Jerome Cha.

Please Tell Me I Don’t Have to Remove All My Teeth

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I need some advice. I have avoided the dentist for years. It’s a long story, but my fear started when I was a child after a horrible experience. I started having a toothache which was pretty bad and decided I had to go in. It was equally horrible. He told me all my teeth are bad and I need to remove them and get dentures. He tried to insist I do it then saying I’d die if I didn’t. I started to cry and he essentially said I’m being a baby and did this to myself. Then said if I’m not going to do what’s necessary, I need to leave. I left devastated thinking even if I HAD to do this I didn’t want to do it with someone so insensitive. I’d rather give my money to someone else. But, I’m only 32 years old. Are dentures really my only option? I don’t want to look like my grandma. But, I also don’t want to die.
Stacey A.

Dear Stacey,

Dental implant

Dental Implant

I’m sorry you’ve had such a disastrous experience for a second time. I want to assure you that not all dentists are like this. The behaviour of this dentist makes me question his diagnosis. First, most dentists try to save as many teeth as possible. If it’s not possible to save any teeth, the next best option is dental implants. I don’t know any dentists who would suggest full dentures. They’re a last resort kind of option because of all the drawbacks.

What I’d like you to do is get a second opinion. I’m optimistic at least some of your teeth can be saved. You only mentioned the one toothache. I don’t know if you had any symptoms of gum disease. Some ways to recognize that is gum tenderness and even bleeding when brushing your teeth. If it progresses too far, without treatment, it can cause you to lose your teeth.

As far as threatening death, a tooth infection left untreated can spread to the brain or heart, which will lead to death. Only the severely infected tooth would need to be removed, not all of them.

Whatever teeth you do end up losing, you are better suited having replaced with dental implants. That gives you a prosthetic tooth root which will protect you from losing jawbone. That shrunken look your grandmother has is from that loss of jawbone. It’s called facial collapse and is a side effect of dentures. You won’t have to worry about that from dental implants.

I also wanted to address your dental fear. Most patients with dental anxiety developed it in childhood just like you, due to a negative experience. I’ve found that many patients with dental anxiety do much better with dental sedation. The chance to have pain-free dental experiences generally changes their whole outlook on dentistry. Eventually, many don’t even need the dental sedation anymore.

It’s worth looking into, especially if you end up needing more than that one tooth worked on. It can allow you to get a significant amount of more work done than you normally could in one sitting, all without pain or stress.

This blog is brought to you by Dr. Jerome Cha.

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