Root canal treatment during pregnancy

During pregnancy, many women suffer from carious defects and/or inflammation of the periodontium (specialist term: periodontitis). Deep carious defects, which make root canal treatment necessary, usually cause severe pain. Postponing the necessary treatment measures until after delivery is therefore often not possible without problems.

As a rule, if you wish to have a child, you should visit a dentist before pregnancy. The dentist should assess the status of each tooth, the gums and the other structures of the periodontium. In women with healthy teeth and optimized oral hygiene, caries and gingivitis occur much less frequently during pregnancy.

A root canal treatment during pregnancy is usually possible. However, it is important that root canal treatment is only carried out if it is unavoidable and cannot be postponed. Every root canal treatment during pregnancy carries certain risks, but these can be reduced to a minimum by special measures.

Unfortunately, in most cases an X-ray is indispensable. These images are used to determine the exact root length, estimate the extent of the inflammation and to check the root filling. During pregnancy, however, the taking of X-rays should be avoided.

On the one hand, this means that it is much more difficult to place a root filling, since the length of the root canals remains an unknown. Furthermore, it is not possible to take control radiographs after the root canal treatment during pregnancy. For this reason, pregnant women are generally only given a so-called root canal preparation.

This means that although the inflamed pulp with the nerve fibres embedded in it is removed, the root canals are not filled completely. However, special protective measures are taken by the dentist and the practice team. Furthermore, if an X-ray cannot be dispensed with, special endometry devices can be used to measure the length of the root canals.

In general, however, an X-ray image is a prerequisite for successful root canal treatment. To anaesthetize the affected areas and to disinfect the root canals, anaesthetics or agents that are especially compatible for pregnant women are used to protect the unborn child. However, one should make sure that the treatment takes place in the second trimester of pregnancy (= 2nd trimemnon). During this time the risk of damage to the unborn baby is lowest.