Swollen Gums During Pregnancy: Home Remedies

Pregnancy gingivitis may affect anywhere between 50 to 70% of expectant mothers. Those who have the condition, on the other hand, are seven times more likely to have premature labor, preeclampsia, and infants with low birth weight!

Short and long-term problems, such as impairments and obstacles in growth and mental development, are more common in premature babies. Furthermore, if a pregnant woman has untreated dental decay and/or consumes a lot of sweets, her children are four times more likely to acquire tooth decay, by some estimation.

Gingivitis during pregnancy is described as swelling and inflammation of the gums and is triggered by a bacterial film that forms on the teeth, leading to plaque accumulation. This plaque hurts the gums, causing them to become painful, bright red, swollen, sensitive, and prone to bleeding. Infected and swollen gums contain disease-causing bacteria, which produce toxins that damage the ligaments, gums, and bones that surround your teeth, forming infected pockets that resemble big infected sores in the mouth.

These pockets enable germs to enter your bloodstream and move throughout your body. The germs that cause gingivitis might end up in the uterine tissue via the bloodstream.
This causes the body to generate prostaglandins, a naturally occurring fatty acid that regulates inflammation and smooth muscle contraction.

The amount of prostaglandins in a pregnant woman’s body rises and reaches to highest levels as she goes into labor. It’s conceivable that if a pregnant woman’s body produces too much prostaglandin in response to infected gums, her body will interpret this as a signal to go into labor sooner than anticipated, leading the baby to be delivered too soon.

Furthermore, hormonal fluctuations when you are pregnant alter the body’s natural reaction to dental plaque, affecting how gum tissues respond to the bacteria in plaque, increasing the risk of gingivitis in pregnant women.

If you already have gingivitis before becoming pregnant, it will most certainly worsen if you do not seek treatment.

Although gingivitis usually goes away after delivery, it should be checked by your dentist on a regular basis (both during and after pregnancy) to avoid gingivitis from progressing to periodontitis, a more severe (and irreversible) condition.