A short clinician-led YouTube talk (Dr. Sanda Moldovan) advising pregnant or preconception patients about oral health: get a dental checkup before pregnancy, continue brushing and flossing during pregnancy, seek dental care for bleeding gums (dental visits and X-rays are allowed), and consult a periodontist for pregnancy-related gum growths called "pregnancy tumors" which can be removed (e.g., with a laser). The video emphasizes prevention and prompt care to reduce risks including low birth weight and preterm birth associated with gum disease.
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Hi, everyone, I'm Dr. Sandha. Welcome to my channel. This week, I'd like to talk to you about pregnancy. Are you expecting a baby or you're thinking about getting pregnant? We have to have a serious conversation about your oral health because that can really affect the health of your baby. So what can you do to stay proactive about your oral health? Make sure you visit your dentist to have a full checkup before you get pregnant. But let's say you're pregnant and you're seeing some bleeding gums. Don't ignore that. Go to your dentist. Yes, you can go to the dentist and even have dental X rays while you're pregnant. But of course, the best way is really to take care of things before you get pregnant. That's the safest way. The problem with bleeding gums is you can actually have gum disease. If you have gum disease, we know that it increases your risk of having a baby that's underweight and even having premature births. So make sure you brush and floss during your pregnancy. Now, a lot of you tell me that you have more sensitive gums during pregnancy. That is perfectly normal. We actually have a lot of hormonal receptors inside the gums. So when you're pregnant, gums can flare up a little bit, so they're more sensitive to the plaque that builds up around the teeth. So it becomes even more important for you to brush, water, floss or floss regularly twice a day. Now, sometimes you're going to see that there's going to be a little growth on the gum, and sometimes this little growth can get larger and larger and start bleeding. So don't get scared. Go see a periodontist, because what you have is actually called a pregnancy tumor. So this pregnancy tumor is just gums that's just growing out of control. We can easily treat that today with a laser so that then a laser is being used to remove this little growth of gum and you can go on. And usually that area does not grow back again. Do you have any questions about your gums? Are you pregnant? Go ahead and Tweet me at DrSanda or go to my website, DrSandamoldavanagam and send me a message. Until then, take care of yourself.
