How to support your oral health during pregnancy and nursing

We’ve huddled many times on how you can stop children’s tooth decay and help your kids live a cavity-free life.

So today, in honor of Mother’s Day, let’s explore some helpful strategies that any mom-to-be can apply to maintain optimal oral health during pregnancy and, at the same time, to also optimize the health of your developing baby.

As you’ll see from the literature, there is a direct link between pregnancy and increases in both tooth decay and gum disease.  And it’s not just the mom who takes the hit. Research suggests that the developing baby might also be at risk if mom’s oral health slips during pregnancy

3 common oral health challenges during pregnancy

Let’s start by highlighting a few ways in which pregnancy can impact the oral health of the mother.

1. Increased risk of tooth decay caused by pregnancy-related nutrient deficiencies  

A woman’s body is hardwired to address her baby’s nutritional needs first.

This means that unless the mom is ultra nutritionally-conscientious during her entire pregnancy, since her body will give to the baby first, the mom may progressively develop a deficiency in the nutrients needed for her to maintain optimal oral health.  

Common signs of this are increased instances of cavities during and after pregnancy.

2. Increased gum disease risk for mom

If the appropriate thug bugs are already colonizing the pregnant mom’s gum line, the above-mentioned nutritional deficits combined with hormonal shifts from pregnancy can set the stage for thug bugs to ramp up their attack on the mom’s gum health.  

It is extremely common for gum pocket depths to increase (get worse) during pregnancy.

3. Increased risk of long-term enamel damage from morning sickness

Repeated exposure to the strong acids from vomiting really can cause a lot of damage to the long-term health of the mom’s teeth.  Later we’ll share a gem of a resource to help you reduce and possibly completely avoid morning sickness.

How common is gum disease during pregnancy?

It really depends who you ask.  

According to the CDC, “Nearly 60 to 75% of pregnant women have gingivitis”.  While gingivitis (bleeding gums) is an early stage of gum disease, as you’ll see below, the systemic inflammatory cascade caused by gum disease creates a very real threat to the health and optimal development of the baby.  

(Incidentally, this is precisely why we focus so much on bleeding gums.  Many signs of early gum disease, like red or swollen gums, are kind of subjective.  However, it’s pretty easy to identify whether or not your gums bleed when you’re gently, yet thoroughly flossing.  Your gums either bleed or they don’t. If they do, that’s gingivitis.)

Back to the prevalence of gum disease.

One research study states, “Periodontal disease is a Gram-negative anaerobic infection of the mouth that affects up to 90% of the population and has been demonstrated to be higher in pregnant women.“

And while the risks to the mother are enough to warrant preventive action, research clearly shows that there can be a negative impact on the unborn child, too.  (Don’t worry, we do share solutions soon!)

Increased risk for child if mom has gum disease

Unaddressed gum disease can cause systemic inflammation.

Research clearly shows a very real increased risk for the baby if the mother has active gum (periodontal) disease.

According to researchers, maternal periodontal disease was associated with a seven-fold increased risk of delivering a preterm, low birth weight infant.  This study goes on to state, “…about 18% of PLBW [preterm, low birth weight] cases might be attributable to periodontal disease.”

The baby’s development is optimized when the child stays in utero through 40 weeks. If we can lower the risk of having the baby preterm by taking better care of our oral health, then we think this is a worthwhile investment of our time.

So what can we do to help lower our risk of tooth decay and gum disease during pregnancy?

Let’s pivot to share several solutions to help you to both maintain your own optimal oral health as well as to optimize the health of your developing baby.

‘Mouth-based’ solutions:

First, let’s focus specifically on ‘in-the-mouth’ strategies.  After that, we’ll dive into some ‘whole-body’ solutions for supporting oral health.

Avoid major dental work during pregnancy and breastfeeding

We’d all agree that it’s best to avoid increasing any toxic ‘body burden’ for anyone, especially a developing child.  This is particularly important if you’re considering having mercury amalgam fillings removed.

Since mercury is a very potent neurotoxin, we want to avoid all risks of exposing the developing child to mercury.

If you still have mercury amalgam fillings and are pregnant, we even think it might be wise to consider postponing your next dental cleaning until after the baby is born. This can help you (and your baby) to avoid any increased mercury vapor exposure that the dental team inadvertently generates as they clean around amalgam fillings.  

If you want to learn more about how to have your mercury amalgam fillings safely removed (or why we suggest caution regarding even routine cleanings if you have amalgam fillings), here’s a link to our article titled, “How to safely remove ‘silver’ mercury fillings (without damaging your brain)”.  

In that article, there is also a video that shows mercury vapor off-gassing from an amalgam filling that’s being stimulated by a dental tool.  If you haven’t seen this video, it’s worth taking a look to dispel any doubts you may have about the risks of mercury in dental restoration materials.

Learn to brush your teeth to reduce the risk of gum disease before you become pregnant.

Again, several factors related to pregnancy can increase the chance of gum disease progressing in the mom’s mouth.

Before you even get pregnant, it’s wise to get into the habit of using a brushing technique that’s clinically proven to reduce gum disease. This will help you to avoid the complications that can arise from developing full-blown gum disease.

Here’s a free resource that shows a simple, time-tested technique for how to brush your teeth to reduce gum disease.

Floss at least every other day.  

According to medical research, regular conscious flossing can help lower the risk of systemic inflammation.  

Here’s the research that shows that flossing really does lower the risk of heart disease (and other systemic inflammatory issues).  

And here’s a video tutorial that shows how to floss your teeth to maximize your benefit without damaging your gums.

Use holistic products formulated to help protect against tooth decay and gum disease.

Our HealThy Mouth Blend does a fabulous job to help rebalance our oral flora and prevent thug bugs from undermining our oral health.  

When used with our not-fancy-but-effective Bass toothbrushes (along with the Bass Brushing Technique that we touched on above), the HealThy Mouth Blend is a tremendous solution for anyone who is at higher risk of gum health issues

And OraWellness Shine, our remineralizing tooth powder, is our ‘go-to’ solution for protecting against tooth decay.

“I couldn’t wait to tell you what Heal Thy Mouth oil did for me! 17 months ago, I finally had an exam after 5 years of no dental visits. The dentist found gum disease, pockets of 5-7 on every tooth. She recommended scaling & planing, and cleanings every 3 months. But then I found a dentist with better rates, who took my insurance. So that one (11 months ago) gave the exact same plan. She said there’s no way to reverse any of this with any home remedy, and for the rest of my life these 3 month cleanings would only slow the terrible disease. I was 2 months pregnant then, which she said would worsen my gums.

I bought your blend and Bass brushes. I used it religiously, also flossed with the oil. For 2 years, I’ve also been oil pulling most mornings. My insurance changed, so I couldn’t get any of the treatments/cleanings. But my gums felt all better! No more pain or bleeding.

I just saw the dentist again (another new one, who takes my insurance). This one says she can’t believe I had gum disease! She wouldn’t admit that I reversed it because that’s not possible(!), but she didn’t find any sign AT ALL. No pockets, no gingivitis, no decay. She really is surprised that pregnancy/nursing didn’t make me worse. THANK YOU!!!”

Charlotte H from Vermont

Here’s a link to our Healthy Teeth & Gums Starter Kit, which contains all the tools needed to support your oral health throughout pregnancy.

If morning sickness is an issue

First, if you vomit, make sure you rinse your mouth with clean water 2 to 3 times afterwards.  

The acids from vomit really compromise our tooth enamel, so we want to try to rinse them away as best we can.  

If you can handle a little salt in your swishing solution, consider mixing a teaspoon of baking soda into a glass of water. You can keep that solution on hand to swish with after vomiting (the baking soda will help to neutralize the strong acids that are left in the mouth).

Also, be sure to avoid brushing your teeth right after vomiting.

Since the enamel has been temporarily ’softened’ from the exposure to acids, you risk damaging your enamel if you brush right after vomiting. Just rinse 2 to 3 times with room temperature water (with a pinch of baking soda, if tolerated) to help neutralize any remaining acids.

And if you want to get the icky aftertaste out of your mouth, feel free to swish with water and a drop or two of our HealThy Mouth Blend.

If recurring morning sickness is really an issue for you, here’s a great resource from our long-time friend, Katie, over at WellnessMama.com: How to avoid morning sickness.

Whole-body support:

First off, there are two foundational steps that we wanted to quickly touch on here–stress and sleep.

1. Check your stress levels and, if needed, begin incorporating some daily stress reduction techniques. Growing a baby is hard work that can put a lot of stress on the body. And there’s a lot of mental stress that goes along with the whole process of being pregnant, giving birth, being a parent, etc. So it can be super helpful to develop the habit of practicing some daily stress reduction techniques (and then carrying through with them going forward in life).
2. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep (this may be easier during pregnancy than after the baby is born, so take advantage of it now). Did we mention that growing a baby is hard work? 🙂 The body needs sleep to rest, reset, and repair itself. Unfortunately, lots of people have developed the mentality of, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” The problem is, chronic sleep deprivation can open the door to all kinds of health complications. So, we really encourage folks to reevaluate their views (and priorities) when it comes to getting some quality shut-eye.

Dietary specifics for optimizing nutrition during pregnancy and nursing…

Here are several excellent tips from expert friends of ours regarding how you can optimize your diet to support a healthier pregnancy for both you and your baby.

Reduce your carbohydrate consumption

Again drawing from our friend Katie over at WellnessMama.com, “Pregnant women should focus on the most bioavailable and dense sources of nutrition, which means choosing meats, fats, and vegetables/fruits over grains, sugars and baked goods.”

Katie is an excellent researcher (and mother of 5), so she’s a wonderful resource for nutrition and pregnancy.  Here’s a great article of hers where she dives into nutrition, herbs, and supplements that are critical for a pregnant mom and her baby.

Increase your consumption of healthy fats

You may be tired of hearing about this, but until our entire culture gets beyond the myth that fats are bad and low fat is better, we’re going to continue singing this song.

In fact, we decided that eating healthy fats is our #1 oral health diet hack to avoid cavities and stop tooth decay.

Eating healthy fats is super important not only for one’s oral health, but also for the health of the whole body (including the developing baby’s brain).

Is there a specific ‘pregnancy diet’?

The Weston A. Price Foundation has written an excellent overview of the findings from Dr. Price’s travels to study indigenous cultures and their dietary traditions.  Their article, “Diet for Pregnant and Nursing Mothers“, is a classic.

In that article, they list out specific foods to eat while pregnant and nursing (as well as foods to avoid).  If you really want to take your health and the health of your developing baby to the next level, we encourage you to check it out.

Another friend of ours, Heather at Mommypotamus.com, has also created a helpful resource for optimizing your diet during pregnancy and nursing.

Optimizing depending on where you are along the pregnancy path…

Our friend Christa over at TheWholeJourney.com gives a great breakdown of the 5 phases of prenatal health as well as strategies you can apply based on where you find yourself in your pregnancy (pre, early, midterm, etc.).

Give the moms in your life a hug!

This mom-focused article was an inspiration for Mother’s Day, but it’s gotten us thinking about other mom-focused oral health topics like:

• What foods to eat to support and protect your teeth while nursing
• What to do to avoid the common advancement of gum disease during pregnancy
• How to give your baby the very best start with their oral health

Would you like to hear more from us on oral health solutions for moms?  If so, please drop us a note in the comments section below to let us know what subjects you’d like us to research and report on.   It’s an honor to serve you and your family in this precious and important way.

Helpful, Related Resources:

4 steps to help your kids live a cavity-free life [article]
How to stop bleeding gums in 3 easy steps [article]
How to safely remove silver mercury fillings [article]
How to brush your teeth to reduce gum disease [article]
Is flossing actually bad for you? [article]
Does flossing really lower my risk of a heart attack? [article]
How to floss your teeth (and not damage your gums)
How to balance your oral flora [article]
HealThy Mouth Blend [product solution]
Bass toothbrush [product solution]
OraWellness Shine [remineralizing tooth whitening powder product]
The 3 times it’s best to NOT brush your teeth [article]
How to avoid morning sickness [wellnessmama article]
Why eating healthy fats is our #1 diet hack to heal cavities [article]
Diet for pregnant and nursing mothers [Weston A Price Foundation]
What to eat while pregnant [Mommypotamus article]
5 phases of pre-natal health [The Whole Journey article]

References:

Pregnancy and Oral Health [Center for Disease Control]
Relationship between periodontal disease and preterm birth [Pubmed]