Pregnancy and Your Oral Health

Pregnancy is an exciting time in your life, and you may be overwhelmed by numerous emotions, especially due to hormones. However, while you ride the waves of pregnancy, your dental health may feel the wrath of what hormones, cravings, and morning sickness can do to your teeth.

Problems With Your Oral Health During Pregnancy

You may develop problems with your teeth and gums during pregnancy. These problems include the following:

• Gingivitis and gum disease
• Enamel damage
• Decay
• Pregnancy tumors

Gingivitis and Gum Disease

During pregnancy, your hormones change, which can cause you to experience gingivitis - a term used to describe inflammation of your gums. A large percentage of all women develop this oral health issue during their pregnancies. Moreover, if you already had gingivitis prior to pregnancy, the hormone fluctuations may worsen your condition.

When you have gingivitis, your gums swell, become tender, and may bleed easily when you floss or brush. Additionally, if you don't take care of your teeth properly during pregnancy, you may also worsen your gingivitis. Unfortunately, if you don't receive treatment for gingivitis, the condition may worsen and turn into gum disease. With gum disease, you might experience tooth loss.

Enamel Damage

You may also damage the enamel of your teeth during pregnancy. When you have morning sickness, the acid from the vomit can erode the enamel of your teeth. While your pregnancy only lasts nine months, this damage to your teeth is often permanent.

As a result of the damage, your teeth may become more sensitive because they no longer have that protective coating that shields the nerves in your teeth. Therefore, whenever your teeth come in contact with something cold or hot, you might feel pain.

Tooth Decay Risk Increase

Another issue you can experience with your oral health during pregnancy is an increased risk of tooth decay. Your chance of tooth decay increases because you might crave sugar during your pregnancy, and if you turn to refined sugars, you feed bacteria in your mouth. As you feed these microorganisms, they produce an acidic waste that damages the enamel of your teeth and leads to tooth decay.

You might also want to snack during pregnancy, and even snacks like chips will increase plaque formation and elevate your risk for decay. 

Additionally, if you suffer from morning sickness, the acid from your vomit will damage your enamel and make your teeth more vulnerable to decay.

Gum Growths

Some women will develop growths of their gums known as pregnancy tumors. Usually, these tumors arise during your second trimester and look like raw raspberries. Typically, these growths appear in between your teeth, possibly because of excessive decay. You might notice that the tumor bleeds easily. Fortunately though, pregnancy tumors are benign and stem from swelling.

Prevention of Pregnancy-Related Oral Health Problems

You may minimize the pregnancy-induced oral health issues you experience by continuing to brush and floss regularly. You want to use a soft-bristled toothbrush - if you don't already - to minimize irritation to your gums when you brush. If you notice that you dry heave when you place a toothbrush in your mouth, you want to aim for a toothbrush with a small head, which is less likely to trigger this reflex.

Additionally, if you experience cravings for sugar, you want to opt for sweet treats low in processed sugar, yet still sweet, such as Greek yogurt, shaved ice, or fruit. You also want to consume enough water.

Unfortunately, a pregnancy tumor isn't combatable, but they disappear once after you give birth and don't tend to cause any long-term complications.

You can make your pregnancy more enjoyable and reduce the oral health issues you experience during and after pregnancy if you take care of your teeth properly during pregnancy. You also want to make sure you schedule a routine visit to get a thorough oral health evaluation and cleaning to reduce your chances of pregnancy-related tooth issues that'll haunt you even after pregnancy.

Schedule an appointment with Joseph M. Perry D.D.S. P.A., serving Statesville, NC, and the nearby region, to keep your mouth healthy during pregnancy.