What is the effect of anaesthesia when you are pregnant? | Dental Treatment Guide


You should tell your dentist if you are pregnant. Even if you think you are pregnant, you should still tell your dentist. During the first trimester of pregnancy, you should avoid elective dental treatment as much as possible. On your second trimester and third trimester, you should discuss your anaesthesia options with your obstetrician or your midwife. Talk to your dentist about anaesthesia so that both of you could come up with the safest way to administer anaesthesia on you.

Local anaesthetics may be administered on pregnant women if dental treatment is really necessary. Normal doses of local anaesthetics can be received by nursing women without affecting their infants. However, dentists recommend that dental treatment be postponed if it is elective.  As much as possible, pregnant women must stay away from local anaesthetics with epinephrine. When this anaesthetic is injected into the blood, there could be a decrease in the blood supply to the placenta, spasms in the blood vessels, and spasms in the arteries that supply blood to the uterus.

Pregnant women must stay away from nitrous oxide especially on their first trimester. There are a lot of ways to get rid of anxiety at the dentist’s office. You can listen to music or even go through an acupuncture session. You should not use Diazepam or similar medications on women who are pregnant or women who could be pregnant.

The effect of using general anaesthesia on a pregnant woman and her foetus will vary based on the types of drugs that were used. As a rule of thumb, you should avoid general anaesthesia as much as possible when you are pregnant. If you are pregnant, think you are pregnant, or planning to get pregnant then you should tell your dentist or your oral surgeon about it.

Further Information about Dental Treatment & Pregnancy