New study shows that gum disease can have an adverse affect on women who are trying to get pregnant. Don't let your gum disease get in the way of having that special little bundle of joy!
We all know that oral health is extremely important for everyone. As we have blogged about before, oral health problems are related to higher incidences of heart attack and can affect incidences of cancer as well as diabetes. But new research has shown that there is a new danger in not maintaining proper oral health for women- pregnancy.
The study conducted by Professor Roger Hart from the University of Western Australia suggests that women with gum disease can need up to an extra two months to conceive than those women without gum disease. Professor Hart is quoted as saying that “Until now, there have been no published studies that investigate whether gum disease can affect a woman's chance of conceiving, so this is the first report to suggest that gum disease might be one of several factors that could be modified to improve the chances of a pregnancy.” As Hart suggests, this fact has long been suspected, but this new study has been able to show a distinct correlation between gum disease and the time it takes to conceive. In the past, gum disease in pregnant women has been successfully linked to incidences of miscarriage and premature birth.
Many women who are trying to conceive already know about the major factors that keep women from getting pregnant such as diabetes and weight issues. Now we will be able to inform pregnant women of the need for proper oral care when trying to get pregnant, so that women can get their new little bundle of joy that much faster, and with less complications. The reason that the prevalence of gum disease may play an important role in women’s ability to conceive is that our bodies are genetically predisposed not to be at their most fertile until our bodies seem to be in well enough health. Our bodies are trying to wait for women to be at their optimum health before women are able to conceive so that gestation, which is an already overwhelming process to the mother, will be as complication-free as possible.
Women who are planning to get pregnant generally know that a visit to their general practitioner is very important to ensure their whole body health before they try to conceive. But now it seems that it may be just as important to plan a visit to the dentist. If you are planning to start a family and believe that you may be at risk or already have gum disease, make sure to talk to your regular dentist today. The treatment for gum disease has been shown to have no negative effects on the baby during pregnancy, so there is no reason to put off your treatment any longer.
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This Saint Patrick’s Day thousands of people across the U.S. will be going out to celebrate with lots of delicious green foods like green cakes, green cupcakes, green chocolate, green eggs and ham, and even the popular Saint Patty’s Day hit green beer. But all this green food has one thing in common: green food coloring. In small doses green food coloring can be a fun way to brighten up your food or play along for Saint Patrick’s Day, but after eating green food coloring all day a person’s teeth will quickly start to show that green dye.
