Wisdom tooth extraction at 26 weeks?

[nearlymumofone]

Hi,

Am 25 weeks pregnant. having a mild panic so wondered if anyone had any advice/opinions. I have been suffering from pretty agonising toothache lately (which is under control through antibiotics and cocodamol), I have been told by my dentist I need both my top wisdom teeth out. This will be done under local anaesthtic (in two separate procedures). He said I could leave it- but the pain may well arise again during pregnancy. He advised the procedure and anaesthetic posed NO risk to the baby.

I then called my midwife to run all this by her. Initially I spoke to someone who said they would put it off as long as possible and no get it done due to potential complications/haemmoraging etc. The following midwife I spoke to advised me to get it done as decay in teeth can be more harmful to a baby potentially. She said it's better to leave it as far along in the pregnancy due to the placenta acting as a better barrier. Shesaid she didn't know what risk would be posed to the baby.

I just feel like I have contradicting advice and I am so scared that I will make the wrong decision. I don't want to put the baby at any risk, but if I avoid the extractions until after the birth and the pain returns I will be back on cocodamol which I understand is also not good for the baby.

Help!!

I had one out whilst pregnant as i had an abcess which was excrutiatingly painful and i couldn't not have had it done IYSWIM. I had local anaesthaetic (loads because i seem to have a poor reaction to it) plus antibiotics afterwards to address the abcess. I never took anything stronger than aspirin, but suspect that other painkillers would not have had a much better impact due to the infection.

TBH i was never warned of any issues wrt baby and just had it whipped out there and then! IIRC I was about 6 months pregnant.

On the upside it was free treatment

I was told to have one out just before I found out I was pregnant (now 21 wks). I'm lucky that it's not actually hurting yet - just partially erupted and beginning to look dodgy, so it's more a precaution of getting it out before it goes horrible. My midwife has recommended waiting until after the baby arrives, but mostly just because it's quite a surgical business and it'll be miserable recovering from it while feeling pregnant, as I'm pretty sure the local anaesthetics they use these days are fairly safe.

I'd go and have another in-depth talk to the dentist (more than one if you have multiple at your practice) - if they know you're pregnant and still say it's okay, it's most likely absolutely fine. Good luck!

Hi nearly, I had a top wisdom tooth out at 10 weeks pregnant. When I asked the dentist about the potential effects of anaesthetic, she was quite dismissive and said it was 'only a local', which didn't exactly fill me with confidence. Still, I had no choice as the pain was becoming increasingly resistant to paracetamol. I also figured it was better to have the tooth out than have all those stress hormones pumping around my body as I tried to deal with the pain and worry.

I had my 20 week scan a couple of weeks ago and everything's looking fine. Hope this helps in some small way.

Thanks for all your advice. I'm going to call the dentist again tomorrow for further reassurance and another midwife too, but plan to go ahead with it as the pain is still here and I think it's unrealistic to think that I could get away with waiting till after the baby's born.

Having a tooth taken out during pregnancy tends to be relatively safe. There is a particular local anaesthetic that is used to protect the womb. If it is your top wisdom teeth, it is unlikely to need antibiotics and you will be able to take paracetamol afterwards but not much stronger than that. I understand the midwife's pov but I would recommend that it is better to have them out beforehand if you are comfortable with that idea as you are less likely to be on a position to a) get to the dentists and b) cope with the recovery once you have a small baby unless you are willing to take the chance that thins won't flare up. If you are at all uncertain, you could ask for an urgent referral to the oral surgery dept at the local hospital.