News Moms Need

Ouch! Your tooth hurts, and you wonder if you have a cavity. I don’t know about you, but I hate going to the dentist. But sometimes we have to put on our brave faces and make the appointment.

Is it safe to have a tooth filled while you’re pregnant? Some dental fillings contain mercury. When these fillings are placed in teeth and removed from teeth, they release a small amount of mercury vapor. Mercury vapor may also be released when a person with a filling chews.

In general, pregnant women should avoid exposure to mercury because it can harm the nervous system of the developing fetus. So it’s a matter of balancing the small risk of mercury exposure against the health benefits of dental fillings.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued its latest recommendation on fillings. The FDA says that mercury fillings are safe for most people, including pregnant women. (BTW: The FDA uses the technical term “amalgam” to mean “filling,” so don’t let the language confuse you.)

If you are pregnant and need to have a tooth filled, talk to your dentist about the options available to you. Healthy teeth are part of having a healthy pregnancy.

Tags: ache, amalgam, cavity, dentist, expecting, FDA, filling, hurt, pain, Pregnancy, pregnant, teeth, tooth

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 10:57 am and is filed under Hot Topics, Pregnancy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.