Treatment and Drugs for Pregnant Dental Patients

Maintaining oral health and treating dental diseases are fundamental components of overall health. Evidence-Based Guidelines for Health Professionals, states Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of oral diseases, including needed dental radiographs and use of local anesthesia, are highly beneficial and can be undertaken during pregnancy with no additional fetal or maternal risk when compared to the risk of not providing care. Good oral health and control of oral disease protects a womans health and quality of life, and has the potential to reduce the transmission of pathogenic bacteria from mothers to their children.1. For an healthy adult dental patient, the selection of dental therapeutic agents for local anesthesia, sedation, postoperative pain control, and treatment of infections is usually straightforward. A dental practitioner might routinely select lidocaine with epinephrine, triazolam, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen with hydrocodone and penicillin V.2, 3 In case of a pregnant patient, the dental practitioner must consider the additional risks drug therapy may have for the mother and fetus. Adverse drug effects specific to the health of the fetus may include congenital defects, miscarriage, complications during delivery, low birth weight, as well as postnatal drug dependence depending upon the trimester periods of pregnancy. Dental treatment generally involves use of drugs with short elimination half-lives, which are administered for limited periods of time and are, therefore, less likely to cause complications during pregnancy.