Our Falls Church General Dentist Discusses Nursing Moms, Sedation Dentistry, and More

Are you currently a nursing mother who is worried of visiting our Falls Church general dentist? You might be thinking that if local anesthesia would be used, it might affect your milk. You just found the right article for you to know more about sedation dentistry and its effect on your breastfeeding.

 

What is Sedation Dentistry?

Sedation dentistry helps patients to minimize anxiety. It's a process that uses medication which has an effect of relaxing patients during dental procedures. There are different levels of sedation dentistry such as inhaled minimal sedation, oral sedation, IV moderate sedation, and deep sedation.

 

Is Sedation Dentistry Safe for Nursing Moms?

Breastfeeding is considered safe after a dental procedure which used sedation or light anesthesia. Only a little amount of anesthesia is used; therefore, it will not have any significant effect to the nursing mother.

 

Why is it Considered Safe?

As mentioned, only light anesthesia is being used for dental works. It has the effect of relaxing patients as not to feel any pain during the procedure. If inhalant is used (i.e. nitrous oxide), it gets cleared quickly on your bloodstream, thus, not affecting the mother’s milk. This inhalant does not affect your blood since it only goes straight to the brain then to the lungs and gets eliminated rapidly. Other drugs used for local anesthesia like oral and IV sedation or the bupivacaine and lidocaine are considered friendly-substances in breastfeeding. In this manner, ingestion of these substances during breastfeeding is improbable.

 

How Soon can a Nursing Mother Breastfeed Her Baby?

A mother who just had a dental procedure done (i.e. cavities filled, wisdom tooth removed, etc.) is not required to suspend breastfeeding except when the procedure is being done. As soon as the mother feels able to breastfeed her baby, she may do so. Unless Dr. Peyser advises, that is the only time that breastfeeding must be interrupted. Our team will specifically inform you about the necessary time to wait if you're breastfeeding.

 

If you have any other questions about your dental care and how it'll affect your nursing, don't hesitate to contact our Falls Church general dentists by calling (703) 893-3333 and requesting to speak with our team. We're always happy to help.

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