Toothache!!

[Ju5tAgirlstandinginfrontofaboy]

Can anyone talk to me about toothache in pregnancy?
I'm 33 weeks and have terrible pain. Been to the dentist twice and he said my teeth look okay and it might be TMJ.
Paracetamol isn't helping and nothing more can be done apparently until the baby is born.
Any advice or previous experience would be very welcome.
I've been and paid for a massage today on my face and head and whilst good at the time hasn't improved anything so far.

That is reassuring. I made the mistake of looking online and it's quite scary 🙈

Glad you found the culprit in the end :) try not to worry, you could always check with your midwife or GP if you need reassurance x

Hi OP, as I said before I'm a radiation protection professional, part of what we do is assessing the risk to the foetus when pregnant women are x-rayed. There's honestly nothing to worry about from a dental X-ray - as a PP said they use very low energy x-rays and short exposures anyway, so the radiation dose to you is tiny, plus it's nowhere near your uterus so the amount of radiation that reaches your baby, if any at all, is absolutely negligible. If it's a helpful comparison, we're often asked to calculate the dose to a foetus from a head CT (a slight pet peeve of mine...) and that's negligible, and the amount of radiation used for a head CT is about a million times greater than a dental X-ray.

Foetuses are quite hardy really, and the level of radiation exposure they can withstand before there are any observable effects are quite high - you could have multiple CT scans of your abdomen and still be well below the level that would be a concern, and they use a LOT more radiation than a teeny dental X-ray.

So honestly, there's nothing to worry about, please try and put it out of your mind. I'm glad you're sorted now :)

@Spam88 thank you so much for taking the time to reply and help me to feel better. I honestly can't tell you what it means to me.
I'm going back to the private dentist tomorrow for a more general check up and make sure I won't be having any more problems close to my due date. I cannot have tooth ache and labour pains combined! Xx