Seeing the dentist while still feeling nausea?

[Voltige]

I cancelled my dental appointment when I was newly pregnant because I had such a strong gag reflex. I also thought that my nausea would be gone by 14-16 weeks as it was last time I'm now 19 weeks and still feeling as much, if not more nausea than I was before. I certainly have less of an appetite. My gag reflex is also still very strong. I can barely brush my teeth well some days.

Normally I would not worry too much, as I have regular cleanings every 6 months. But my gums are quite sensitive and I am wondering about a possible cavity on one molar. It's painful if I eat something cold or sweet.

Any advice on how to get through a dental cleaning/check up with bad nausea? Even when I'm not pregnant it's difficult for me.

[MoonJelly]

: I have been wondering this as well.

[MomtoXane]

I told my dentist up front that I was still very queasy. They were extra careful not to do anything to set me off, until they put a tray in my mouth. I started coughing and gagging and nearly lost my breakfast. After that they let me hold the suction thing myself to avoid hitting sensitive areas. I ended up needing 4 fillings, so I'm glad I didn't postpone it more than I did. HTH!

[Talula Fairie]

My question is, how did you manage to get the work done without x rays? I need some serious dental work but I figure they are going to need x rays and I'm still in the first trimester.

[pumpkin]

I had to have a root canal at the height of my morning sickness. We paused periodically so I could throw-up. Really not ideal but it had to happen.

I still need some dental work done but I was advised by the dentist, the endontist, my gp, and my ob to wait to even get the exams done to figure out the extent of the work required until after the baby is born. Until then I'm just living with the discomfort. The only reason they did the root canal was because it was infected and the risk of infection spreading during the pregnancy was worse than the risk of the root canal.

If you do go in, I would tell them about the nausea and ask them to do as focused of an exam as possible. I wouldn't go for a full cleaning or anything like that.

[the_lissa]

I have hg and I just had to power through. I had pregnancy gingivitis and the constant vomiting was taking a toll on my teeth so I had to do it.

[georgiegirl1974]

I went to the dentist when I was 9 weeks pg. I immediately told them (since they wanted to do x-rays and I wanted to explain why I hadn't been flossing the past month), and the hygenist was pretty quick. I also made sure the appointment was scheduled for a less nauseous time of day.

[javilu]

Talula, have you been to the practice before? They will have old x-rays on file for you. They can also do a visual exam. I have never had a cavity show up on an x-ray that wasn't seen in a visual exam. If you have visible cavities, these can be filled. I waited until the second trimester to get my cavities filled, and the dentist used a numbing shot without epinephrine in it. I'd already been in pre-pregnancy and had the cavities diagnosed and got x-rays then, but I didn't have to get any further x-rays even though it had been months between my x-rays and the fillings. I also had a cleaning at around 25 weeks and had a visual exam done then, too. They were very okay with me not getting x-rays.