Home | Health | Dental Care

Pregnancy and Dental Health

By: Jennieyer Atkins


Read More About Dental Care

Both the pregnant woman and her unborn baby need the right dental care to ensure good health for them. For your unborn baby's dental health to be perfect, you must take good care of your health in general and never take your dental health for granted too. Making sure that you go to your dentist for examinations, regular flossing and brushing, avoiding sweets and unhealthy food and having a balanced nutrition achieves this.

An unborn infant's teeth begin developing months before he is born, while in the fifth or sixth week of pregnancy, his tooth buds start showing while when he reaches the time between the third and sixth month of pregnancy, the crowns of the teeth start to develop. As soon as the baby is welcomed to the world, his 20 baby teeth or primary teeth is already embedded in his jawbone waiting to sprout. The development of the crowns of infant teeth are almost complete but they have to wait for the time that the baby begins to undergo teething before they show.

While the unborn infant's teeth are developing, calcium, phosphorus, and other minerals and vitamins are needed. A balanced nutrition lets you have enough of these vitamins and minerals for both you and the child in your womb. Unborn babies do not derive their calcium needs from their mothers' teeth as what most people believe in. Since your doctor knows your specific nutritional needs, you must follow his advice during your pregnancy.

There is no scientific basis in the saying that a woman loses a tooth every time she is pregnant. If you are experiencing more tooth decay during pregnancy, it could be that you are neglecting your oral hygiene at this busy time or snacking too often on sugary foods. Inflammation of the gums known as gingivitis is more common in pregnancy than tooth decay. Increase in hormone levels occurs during pregnancy and this causes pregnancy gingivitis. Along with this increase is the exaggerated reaction of the gums to the plaque along the gum line. Regular cleaning and dental care can help in the prevention of gingivitis among pregnant women despite irregular hormone levels.

There are no health threats when the pregnant mother receives the most dental health care. The second trimester of your pregnancy is the best time to have your dental treatments. First months of pregnancy make women feel nervous, nauseated and anxious. A lot of women find sitting on dental chairs for a long period uncomfortable especially when in their final months of pregnancy. This explains why the second trimester proves to be the best time to have your dental procedures done.

X-rays are undertaken in order to know if there are any dental problems which visual inspection cannot easily determine. Having a good dental care habits before getting pregnant will free you from x-ray examinations and other prenatal concerns. If x-rays are necessary, there are several factors which assure their safety like the amount of radiation produced in a dental x-ray is small and exposure time is brief, the x-ray beam is narrow and not normally directed toward the abdomen, and a lead apron is used to protect the abdomen and fetus. With good nutrition and dental health practices, you can avoid dental problems in the future and gift your child with great dental health.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Go to this site for further information on cosmetic dentistry sydney. You can get the best professional teeth whitening information by visiting this website.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Dental Care Articles Via RSS!

counter easy hit

Powered by Article Dashboard