LOCAL ANESTHETICS AND PREGNANCY. A REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE AND WHY DENTISTS SHOULD FEEL SAFE TO TREAT PREGNANT PEOPLE

Oral health and dental treatment are essential during pregnancy. Despite dental treatment being safe during pregnancy for mother and baby, many dentists are reluctant to treat pregnant people. Previously published FDA and ADA recommendations for the treatment of pregnant people exist. Consensus statements and injectable local anesthetic manufacturers' information exist as well. Yet many dentists continue to demonstrate reluctance and hesitancy to treat pregnant people during all stages of pregnancy and for all routine comprehensive care such as exams, diagnostic radiographs, scaling and root planning, restorative, endodontic, and oral surgical procedures. Local anesthetics are most widely used in dental treatment, and many dental procedures necessitate their use when treating pregnant people. To facilitate dentists... comfort and clinical decision-making in the use of local anesthetics in improving the pregnant population's receipt of dental treatment and care outcomes and to calibrate practices to the current standard of practice aligning with contemporary evidence, this paper will review essential published evidence-based studies, guidelines, resources, and information from national organizations responsible for protecting the public's health.