Stomatitis During Pregnancy
Contents:
- Signs of Stomatitis During Pregnancy
- Possible Consequences
- Diagnosis of Stomatitis During Pregnancy
- Treatment of Stomatitis During Pregnancy
- Prevention
Stomatitis in Pregnancy
Stomatiti is considered quite widespread and dangerous disease. Having stomatitis during pregnancy is bad due to the number of its consequences. Why is this disease so dangerous? Why it appears and how it can be treated? Let’s try to figure this out together.
Signs of Stomatitis During Pregnancy
Medical statistics shows that every second pregnant woman suffers from stomatitis. This disease along with many others is caused by changes of hormone levels in woman’s body.
A woman sick with stomatitih has small sores that appear in her mouth (on the mucous membrane). Her lips, cheeks and palate redden and later this reddening transforms into erosion and ulcers that look like white spots with scurf. They do not just create discomfort: they are painful and make it impossible to eat normally.
Proper stomatitis treatment allows you to avoid its consequences and dangers. That’s why you have to visit a doctor immediately if you start having symptoms of this disease. Only doctor is able to prescribe a proper treatment course, which won’t harm both mother’s and baby’s health.
Possible Consequences
Future mother’s immune system is weakened during pregnancy and so is unable to resist viruses and infections: that’s why the stomatitis appears. This disease can be caused even by not very thorough oral hygiene. If oral hygiene is bad, it is easy for pregnant woman to catch viral, fungal or bacterial infection, that’ll progress quite fast. Viral infections can cause herpetic stomatitis and fungal can cause the candida one. If future mum smokes, it can become additional factor of stomatitis development.
It is dangerous to put off a visit to a doctor if you have stomatitis. If the infection spreads beyond the mouth, it can cause inflammation of the genital mucous, fever and dehydration. If stomatitis isn’t cured before childbirth, a baby can be born with this disease too.
But don’t be afraid of the stomatitis too much: if you contact a doctor immediately and follow his prescriptions strictly, this disease can be easily cured.
Diagnosis of Stomatitis in Pregnancy
To diagnose stomatitis a doctor has to examine patient’s mouth and look through his medical card. There are no special tests that allow diagnosing the stomatitis in future mums and the symptoms of this disease are the same for everyone. The main initial symptom is the reddening of an oral mucosa accompanied with tingling. After it the erosion appears, followed by the ulcers (they look like white spots with red edges). If a pregnant woman has stomatitis, she can feel pain while eating, her tongue becomes sensitive, her body temperature grows and her salivation intensifies. It can be accompanied by an unpleasant smell from a mouth sometimes.
If the stomatitis is followed by genital and eye inflammation, and by appearance of the liquid bubbles in the mouth, this means that the disease progresses and you should contact a doctor as soon as possible. When the disease worsens, the overall health of a woman worsens as well. You have to remember that stomatitis is a recurring disease, that’s why it’s so important to treat it correctly, quickly identifying its cause.
Treatment of Stomatitis During Pregnancy
Treatment of a stomatitis in pregnant women depends on its cause. If it was caused by a fungal infection, you have to take antifungal medicines to treat it. Most of these drugs are harmless for the fetus, but not all of them. You have to take mouthwash to keep you and your baby safe. Take a teaspoon of plain baking soda and put it in a glass of warm boiled water. Rinse your mouth with it every 30 minutes.
If stomatitis was caused by bacterial diseases that appear because of the oral mucosa’s injuries, you have to treat it with a help of antibiotics. These injuries can appear if you bite your tongue or inside of the cheeks, burn your mouth with hot drinks or do tongue piercing. It is important to know that sometimes when stomatitis is treated with the drugs mentioned above, it can lead to premature termination of a pregnancy during the first months of gestation.
If this disease is caused by allergy that future mother has, you have to identify the allergen first and to eliminate it. This case of stomatitis is treated with the help of antihistamines.
Future mother has to be very attentive to her oral hygiene in order to treat stomatitis successfully. This is the basis, allowing treating this disease quickly. You have to choose a toothpaste that disinfects well, has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect (helps to heal wounds and ulcers). Proper nutrition is no less important for stomatitis treatment. Lack of nutrients or vitamins can not only cause stomatitis, but also delay the healing process.
Prevention
Prevention is the best treatment. Future mother has to remember this axiom every day.
If you want to avoid stomatitis, you have to follow certain rules:
- Stick to thorough everyday oral hygiene. Use toothpaste with antibacterial effect, dental floss and mouthwash.
- Always wash fruits and vegetables before eating them. They collect a huge amount of bacteria and microbes on them during transportation, storing and sale process.
- Drink warm boiled water instead of a cold one: this is necessary if you want to avoid cooling oral mucosa.
- Take additional vitamin complexes to protect your body and to keep your immune system in a good condition.
- Buy product from proven and reliable sellers only.