Pleeeeeaasssse?

Question

Please help, one time I was going to have a tooth extracted, and in the middle of the anesthesia I woke up only to find the dentist with his knees on my chest trying to pull as hard as he could. Well he didnt even pull one and sent me home telling me that since I woke up, he couldnt do anything for me. I have post traumatic stress disorder due to this situation, AM TRAUMATIZED, well now am 33 weeks pregnant with a severe tooth infection and even though they gave me some antibiotics, they didnt work. So now they are going to send me for emergency surgery. I am so scared, terrified, I want to be under general anesthesia, I got two opinions, one doctor said ok, the other said not ok, I dont know what to do please help me.
I already see a psychologist for ptsd, am asking about the surgery.

Answer 1

My understanding that any anesthesia during pregnancy can be harmful for the baby and my source recommends against the surgery until the baby is born.

Answer 2

What a terrible experience! That can be extremely truamatic for someone, it happened to my sister too. She was in for some type of mouth surgery, and she was under just enough to not be able to move...but she still felt the pain! It was traumatic for her too for a while, but she eventually got over it. She has had several minor surgeries since then, and she hasn't had a problem like that ever happen to her again. Believe it or not, it rarely happens, I think that you just had an someone was enexperienced the last time.jJust make sure you have a reliable surgeon to do your surgery. I'm sure you are in good hands, and since you have had a bad experience with it in the past, that your doctor will make sure that EVERYTHING is working properly. Although doctors are usually well experienced, it does not hurt to as questions about the surgery, and to share your information, just for your own peace of mind.

Answer 3

I actually went through the same thing in my first trimester, excluding the huge fear. I can tell you I had one of the best obgyn's in the country (has been on many talkshows, news shows and in many magizines) and he assured me that it was completely safe to use a local anesthetic. My tooth was so terrible, abcessed and there was no way to get it out without surgery. I went through with it, wide awake the whole time. The only drawback is being pregnant and making it hard to eat for a few hours. Good luck and I hope whatever you choose works for you! Good luck and congrats on the baby!

Answer 4

Ok...did you get a second opinion...it seems to me that with the baby about to come...it probably wouldn't kill you to just wait for the baby...then you could go general and it wouldn't matter...right now everything they put in you ...goes into baby...that's not the smartest idea...

Id ask another doctor...because if it's just an infected tooth...they could do a root canal and clean it all out and that doesn't require surgery....I'm really scared of the dentist too...but I'd rather be in pain for another few weeks than to risk my baby... be careful!

Answer 5

Worry about the baby's health and safety 1st. If the docs say your fine to go into surgery then you and your baby are safe.Plus having a tooth infection is very dangerous for your health.

Answer 6

You need to find out if the suregery is ok with you being pregnant...Ask your dentist or Doctor that is doing it...I don't think that they can put you under a g/a being pregnant

Answer 7

just calm down.the doctors should know. talk to the people before you go in and voice your concerns. dont let your stress affect your baby, you could get some difficulties from heaping so much stress upon yourself and your child. calm down asmuch as you can.

breathe in, breathe out.
dont be terrified, dont get freaked out!

Answer 8

Have it done because the infection may cause other teeth to become infected. Im sure you are scared, but it has to be done. You dont wanna have bad teeth.

Answer 9

Up to two percent of all pregnant women undergo surgery during pregnancy. Each year, thousands more women of reproductive age chronically inhale trace amounts of anesthetic gas while working in operating rooms and dental offices. The risks and benefits of possible surgery or occupational exposure must be carefully considered in any pregnancy.

Knowledge regarding the safety of surgery and anesthesia during pregnancy is based primarily on animal studies and retrospective human surveys conducted mostly in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. These studies have a number of confounding variables. Women are generally given multiple anesthetic agents and other agents (including analgesics, antiemetics and sedatives), making it difficult to discern the effects of individual agents. When surgery is combined with anesthesia, it is not possible to determine whether adverse outcomes are due to the operative procedure, the underlying maternal condition, maternal stress, fever or the anesthetic agent. While animal studies make it possible to separate the procedural risks from risks associated with the anesthesia exposure, even in animal studies, it remains difficult to determine if the observed effect is due to the anesthetic or to the physiological changes caused by anesthesia. Variations in genetic susceptibility also make it difficult to generalize these studies to humans because of interspecies variation.

Most human studies have not found a significant difference in the overall rate of congenital anomalies among women receiving general anesthesia while undergoing surgery (Knill Jones, 1972; Duncan et al., 1986; Mazze et al., 1989). Further analysis of the Mazze et al. study did note a significant increase in the incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs); six NTDs were observed while only 2.5 were expected. There were no indications that any one anesthetic was the cause of the NTDs, and researchers could not rule out other factors such as the underlying disease, the neuroendocrine events associated with the stress of surgery, or the trauma of the operation as the cause of the increased incidence NTDs. The authors report that the association could be a random finding because the observation developed as a result of searching a large data base, rather than as a consequence of testing a hypothesis regarding the effect of surgeries on NTDs. No other studies have found similar increases in NTD incidence, and as such, the association between NTDs and maternal surgery during the period of neural tube formation must be regarded as unproven (Kallen et al., 1990).

For women undergoing general anesthesia and surgery during pregnancy, aside from malformations, several studies have noted an increase in spontaneous abortions (Brodsky et al. 1980; Duncan et al., 1986), in infants with very low (<1500 gm) or low (<2500 gm) birth weights and in infant mortality (Mazze et al., 1989).

Information regarding the safety of anesthesia and surgery during pregnancy is limited and confounded by many factors. In the case of surgery, it is important to weigh the risks and benefits of the procedure against any possible risks. Based on the information reviewed in this newsletter, there does not appear to be an increased risk for congenital malformations associated with anesthetic use. The possible association between anesthesia/surgery and a risk for neural tube defects is unclear and warrants further study. Occupational exposure to anesthetics has been shown to increase the risk of spontaneous abortion by 1.5 to two times the background risk. Given the methodological weakness of these studies, there is a possibility that this increase is coincidental. With all exposures, particularly occupational ones, it is best to limit the exposure as much as possible.

Also...
Research strongly indicates that the rate of maternal death due to general anesthesia may be at least double the rate of deaths due to regional anesthesia. The primary cause of maternal death due to general anesthesia is difficulty with airway management.

This is from various sources on the Internet. You need to get a consultation with an anesthesiologist to help you make the right decision. They can also tell you what your other options are. They may know of regional anesthesia agents that will allow you to have the tooth extracted while reducing the risk to your unborn child.

Answer 10

Call your ob doctor and explain to them. I would THINK it would be ok since you are so far along already.