Pregnancy affects the body in many different ways. If you’ve had a child or are pregnant, you likely feel as if everything is changing, including the fact that you feel sick every morning. Morning sickness affects about 80 percent of all pregnant women.

Some are affected more than others—if you’re lucky, you will only experience mild morning sickness for a fairly short amount of time. If you’re not, you may find yourself running to the bathroom every morning for months.

With everything you have on your mind, you likely don’t really think about what this is doing to your teeth.

Exposing the Teeth to Acid

Every time you throw up, even if it’s not due to morning sickness, you’re bathing the back of your teeth in acid from your stomach. This stomach acid can eat through the enamel on your teeth, causing major tooth decay and other health issues.

If you vomit once or twice due to a stomach bug or other illness, it’s not that concerning. If, however, you’re throwing up every morning for weeks, the consistent damage to your teeth does add up.

What You Can Do

Preventing tooth decay while also dealing with morning sickness requires you to be extra vigilant about your oral health. You need to make sure you brush and floss regularly. You also need to clean your mouth as soon as you vomit. Rinse your mouth out with an alcohol-free mouthwash or, if you don’t have any, with water.

While you may want to immediately grab your toothbrush, you should actually wait for an hour or so. That’s because the stomach acid has weakened the enamel on the teeth. If you brush right away, you could actually cause more damage.

Don’t skip on your regular cleanings while you’re pregnant, either! Be sure to call and schedule your cleaning when it’s time, and don’t hesitate to contact us if you feel like something is amiss with your oral health.