please help me brush my teeth!

[chelle792]

I'm nearly 6 weeks pregnant and for the past week brushing my teeth has been hideous. It makes me feel sick and gag. Today I was actually quite violently sick. It's not the taste but the toothbrush being in my mouth that is awful.

I'm waking up in the morning with furry feeling teeth and I hate it. I just want to brush my teeth for more than a cursory 30 seconds! I really can't manage any more.

Anyone else had this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm getting desperate! I didn't have this with my last pregnancy

I remember exactly this. I couldn't put the toothbrush anywhere near the back of my mouth.
Is there any time you feel less sick? Use mouthwash too?

Are you using normal toothbrush or electric?

I just used mouth wash. It passed by about 18-20 weeks.

Sorry op, this lasted the whole 9 months for me. It was wonderful brushing my teeth without puking after ds was born!
I did find that the toothpaste made a difference, I couldn't bear the granular types, and went for a v mild tasting one. Maybe a kids toothpaste might help?

buggers I hadn't thought of that. I'm using an electric.

I think I was sick this morning because I pushed for a longer brush time.

I wouldn't say I'm necessarily feeling too sick any time. Certainly not compared to my last pregnancy. I'm only slightly nauseous really apart from with bread and my toothbrush!

Mouthwash! Good plan. Thanks woolfie

X post. Mouth wash and mild toothpaste. I'll try it. Thanks. It's not pleasant because I work on a 1:1 basis with various kids and teens so am paranoid that my breath stinks! It probably doesn't though tbf.

I experienced this when I was pregnant with my DS. You will all laugh at me, but for nearly 3 weeks I put toothpaste on a rubber cat toothbrush (pic attached) and used that until my gag reflex calmed down. It worked for me.

annie I wonder if my dog will let me borrow his

Try a regular tooth brush and see if that's any better, is it just the brush in your mouth making you gag and not the smell/taste of the toothpaste?

Try the chewable balls cost more but worth it

Yeh it's the tooth brush. I'll dust off my manual and see if that helps. Loads of suggestions, thankyou - and my teeth thank you if they don't rot and fall out

I had this really really bad.

What worked:
Manual toothbrush
Leaning forward so any foam or saliva doesn't pool in back of mouth
Brushing for no more than 15 seconds. It's not long but it's what I could manage before vomiting.
Spit spit spit until mouth is no longer watery
Use mouthwash

Good luck!

I had this too!

I could only user Arm and Hammer toothpaste in the end. It doesn't froth up quite as much as all the others.

I had this too. Thankfully it only lasted a couple of weeks. If you do vomit, don't carry on brushing. Apparently brushing after being sick brushes the acidic vomit into your enamel. Leave it 20 mins or so before trying again.

I had this as well.. was really horrible! As others have said, I leaned forward and didn't brush for very long. Also brushed before I'd eaten anything in the morning and must confess I didn't brush in the evenings . It went away at about 14 weeks but still occasionally gagged after that but nowhere near as bad (31 weeks now).

I'm 11 weeks and been suffering with this too! I'm not sick but keep heaving whilst brushing. Happened last time too... It's especially tricky as my 8 yr old DS hangs around the bathroom every morning and is asking if I'm ok (we're not telling him until after my scan).

I'm worse when hungry so am now brushing teeth after eating rather than when I've just got up. I already use a manual brush so can't change that! Hoping it clears up soon as my nausea has mostly gone now.

Mrsjojo your suppose to brush before eating these days, then there is no plaque for the acid to react with so no acid attack. We learned this at nursery lol

It's a difficult one because I think I didn't feel as sick after eating but whenever I did this it always brought up a bit of food... hence always brushed before eating even though that was generally when I felt worse. I also understand as kiki has said that brushing before eating protects your teeth from the food.

I sympathise as I had this as well!
And my gum bled and bled and bled!!
It only stopped after I had my son

I know this too well :-(
I found what slightly helped was:

• manual instead of electric toothbrush (like everybody said already)
• rinsing the mouth from a cup instead of bending forward towards the water tap or not rinsing at all, just spit out
• distraction, brushing the teeth while watching tv outside the bathroom (of course better if sudden vomitting is unlikely)
• for cleaner feeling, chewing gum (helps me miraculously against nausea anyway)

Good luck!

I gave up with teeth brushing in early pregnancy as it made me vom! I just swilled some alcohol free mouthwash round twice a day.
Several years on, my teeth are fine (and I was being sick lots each day so lots of acid exposure during pregnancy).

Hi - I can totally sympatheise. I have had this and in particular in beginning of pregnancy, with sck coming up becasue of the nausea.

The best thing I did was not clean teeth first thign in the morning (try to remember to stll brush though - I forget in morning), so eating first, leave two hours, clean.

• The main thing that has helped me no end is getting an electric toothbrush. The shape and angles you use it in the mouth is less toothpaste and more deticated to each tooth, less mouth more teeth. I actually managed to clean for full time without gagging now.

I happen to use make sonicare.

Good luck, it worked for me, occ. gag but so different to oridanary toothbrush

Following as I'm currently 26 weeks and still struggling to brush my teeth! I have a manual toothbrush anyway, I use a lot of mouthwash and am off to dentist in July as want to make sure I am not doing any damage
It's so awful isn't it, it's worse for me in the morning!
Brushing before food is a good call for morning brush so will keep that in mind! My gag reflex being sensitive was one of the first signs I knew I was pregnant!

I've had this and it's only recently got a bit better (32 weeks) sorry! I found it helped to use a less foamy toothpaste, use less, and do the top teeth and then rinse, then start again and do the bottom teeth. I still couldn't brush for long but went to the dentist last week and my teeth are fine

Exactly the same problem! I have tried the tooth wipes etc you can get buy made little difference. In the end I found a tiny baby/child's toothbrush and a very small amount of toothpaste (no water) did the trick.