Better to get tooth extraction while heavily pregnant or while breastfeeding?

[laurajaynex]

I just wanted to gain some opinions from others…

I‘m currently 34 weeks pregnant and suffering through a severe tooth infection. I have antibiotics and things are (hopefully) improving. However, my dentist has just said he believes the tooth will need to come out or it will reoccur (possibly even before baby is born…). He isn’t keen to take the tooth out while I’m pregnant and said he’d rather wait until after delivery due to risk of further infection like dry socket etc.

I know neither is ideal but I’m wondering whether it would be best to have it removed while pregnant as opposed to when I have a newborn who I will need to breastfeed etc.

Any thoughts or similar experiences?

You have much more time before the baby is born than after, and more opportunity to take to your bed for a few days if needs be (although I've had two tooth extractions with no complications and very little pain, chances are you'll be fine). I'd opt for doing it now if at all possible. Local anaesthetic is safe in pregnancy (and also when breastfeeding) so there shouldn't be any issue there.

It's a balance of risk. I would prefer to eliminate the source of infection ASAP; there is the risk it flares up at the same time you go into labour which would make for a very miserable time indeed.

On balance if safe I would say do it whilst pregnant. I can’t imagine wanting a tooth extraction shortly after giving birth and whilst caring for a newborn. You certainly won’t want to be dealing with dry socket whilst breastfeeding. Though hopefully that won’t occur. You will also be limited in what you can eat which isn’t idea when your body will need good nutrition.

I had a tooth extraction last year and although I didn’t get dry socket I did need antibiotics and generally felt quite off for a few days.

Definitely before you have a baby to look after.

If the risks are relatively low, I’d much rather have it done whilst still pregnant. I felt rather overwhelmed once my baby was born and the thought of recovering from surgery whilst also doing night feeds fills me with horror!

I recently had a tooth out.... in July, I have an eight month old baby x

I found it quite hard painful for a good two/three weeks. My whole mouth ached. I'd get it done before the baby so you can rest and sleep x

I would ask for a second opinion of another dentist. They are quite nervy around pregnant women but they are the expert here. I got a severe infection while pregnant and ended up having a root canal with a 2 week old baby. (As an aside : must you lose the tooth is a root canal an option?)

I had to have a tooth removed when pregnant (during covid) and it was fine.
No way I could have waited months - I was in agony

I had agonising toothache when heavily pregnant, the options were start root canal now and finish when baby was born or tooth out now.

I needed the pain gone and I was a single parent with no local support so couldn't imagine a time I'd be able to go to the dentist with no baby in tow so I opted for tooth out there and then. Had no issues and the dentist wasn't concerned at all just said to ensure I carry out the after care.

Thank you for all your opinions!

The infected tooth is a failed root canal treatment unfortunately :( He did say sometimes they do settle and don’t recur but more often than not once they’ve failed the tooth has to go…

I think another reason he doesn’t want to do it in pregnancy is because he wants to x-ray it first (which he won’t do in pregnancy) to see how it looks in the root of the tooth etc.

I think he's being over cautious really (GP here) - the risk to a full-term baby from a single x-ray of your mouth is virtually non-existent, and if he can provide you with a lead apron for your abdomen then it's even lower. Having had three breastfed babies and multiple root canals and extractions, I would really be pushing to get this out of the way before your baby arrives.