Hello,
I need a root canal done on a "hot"/not dead molar, but I don't want to pause breastfeeding my infant, or pre-pump
Have you had a similar experience in CH? What kind of pain relief worked for you during and after? Is Novocaine enough? What about "laughing gas"? Were you able to nurse your baby normally after? Did your baby react to the milk (to the best of your knowledge)?
Though I've done quite some reading on the subject it's mostly non-Swiss source. I'm apprehensive about going to the dentist (OK, OK, it's more like ); just doing temporary work on this same molar called for 3 shots of Novocain to get me to release my finger nails from the leather seat. Would it be any easier to just hit myself over the head with a frying pan to defer pain? Help! Please!
I have no experience with both related. But my experience with Root Canal is that is is very painful and all drugs were needed. Even being well under drugs, I did feel a bit of a pain when deep in the tooth trying to kill the nerve.
Did you ask for a patch to cover it for a while? At least until you are done with the breastfeeding? Did you also ask for what was the risks and reaction to the milk?
Best of luck,
Nil
hi, first of all congratulations on breasfeeding your baby. I had dental work done while breastfeeding, i asked my baby doctor and he said it was ok, i was not so convinced, i also asked my house doctor, and of course the dentist said it was ok. It didn't affect my baby at all, he was fine, and i took panadol afterwards, of course it all depends on how good are you to deal with some pain and how good your dentist is as well. I wish you the best.
If it's not sending you to sleep, it won't send the baby to sleep.
It's probably not recommended to breastfeed the baby whilst in the dentist's chair ;-) , and you might also want to be a little careful handling the bub if you are a bit lightheaded afterwards.
Otherwise, I had a general anaesthetic and breastfeed straight afterwards. My surgeon said that the tiniest dose of anesthetic that is metabolised from the breastmilk into their stomach, is nothing compared to the amount that babies get from c-sections or if they are born sick and need immediate surgery (a friend of mine's baby had their first surgery 4 hours after birth)...
With anaesthetic there's no need to 'pump and dump' - the medication matches your blood stream - so as your body clears it from your bloodstream, it also clears it from the milk...and the milk goes via the baby's stomach anyway, so it's nothing like being pregnant and having drugs, because when you are pregnant it goes straight from your bloodstream to theirs, not via the stomach...
Oh, and I had a root canal during pregnancy, anyway. It was necessary...and the dentist was careful about his choice of treatment, and didn't do anything that he considered strictly necessary, and then got me to come back afterwards to finish off the work that needed to be done.
Hope that you find my information reassuring....
Oh, one final advice - my dentist in Australia recommended going to the GP to get a prescription for a general antibiotic before coming for the root canal, because if the tooth is hurting it's probably infected, and far better to clear the infection first before they open the whole thing up to the air and splatter the gunk around...
Thank you! Pain... I'm not too bad in dealing with general pain, and (though you mustn't quote me on this) I'd take non-med birth pains any day over the dentist.
Very interesting; I read something similar on an American site too. Reassuring yes, because I don't want to worry about they baby on top of my anxiety. I'll be sure to ask about those antibiotics too. Thanks a bunch.
Has anyone used laughing gas here?
I asked my first dentist and he gave me this look that said "what kind of wussy country do you come from, lady?!" I sulked away and never went back. Hence, why I'm in the predicament I'm in.
I'm in the middle of a root canal (actually, Round Two, as the first go on this tooth didn't work due to the old-school dentist using manual files and a filling rather than electric drilling, x-ray/ sonar checks and a proper capping off technique like a crown or an onlay - note to OP, use a specialist, not just a regular dentist...).
I personally don't find it to be any different from a filling, except it takes longer - once the tooth is numb, it's numb, regardless of what the dentist is doing. The only pain I had afterwards was some jaw stiffness from holding my mouth open for over an hour, and then a couple of days of 'ohh, that's a bit twingy' if I tapped it, or bit on something sharp. Really, it's nothing that a couple of ibuprofen can't sort out.
I'm not aware of any problems with local anaesthetic and breastfeeding, so I can't see why you would have to work around it with your baby (other than the general annoyance of needing several long appts to get the work done).
Good luck with it!
kodokan
I had a root canal done when nursing, actually needed to have it done before my daughter was born but we waited so be safe so had it done after she was born, about 8wks. My dentist was super careful, I told him my nursing worries and he opted to reduce the amount of aenesthesia, I am not sure he might have even opted for something milder, can't remember. He worked extremely fast and efficiently, scheduled me for 3 visits, so the amount of work was not so huge at each time. I really wouldn't worry about passing some meds like dental aenesthesia through your milk, medicine evolves amazingly fast, just be very clear about your interests. I didn't take any pre drilling meds nor post, since I was aware of the pain being a pretty good indicator if things are going right or wrong. Just chill afterwards, take vits, rest and not stress so you heal fast.
From my reading I think that amount of pain you feel even after meds has alot to do on whether the tooth has abscessed.
Yes, the tooth has had a patch before and after pregnancy. Obviously it needs something more permanent if the roots flare up so quickly. I don't know how long my DD wants to nurse but I'm betting she'll outlast the tooth.
Thanks very much girls; this is the info I was looking for exactly.
So, deep breath... here I go
I'm back, fresh from the dentist's chair, to say: thank you for the responses. You were spot on about the pain being more or less like a cavity filling.
I actually had to have 2 root canals (shameless, toffee lover I'm afraid) and a normal anesthetic injected at several points did the trick.
So thanks a bunch for being so accurate in your feedback!