Managing vomiting in the third trimester of pregnancy during fixed prosthodontic treatment. A case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Pregnancy is a specific and critical period in a woman’s life. Some pregnant women face difficulty when performing effective oral hygiene care due to pregnancy-related vomiting symptoms. A hypersensitive vomit reaction in the third trimester of pregnancy is not frequent and may prevent the dental provider from successfully completing critical clinical stages resulting in poor treatment outcomes. Once pregnant women suffer an unpleasant gag reflex experience in a dental office, they may become phobic, delaying or postponing their dental treatment. The purpose of this article is to report a case of a 32-year-old woman, primigravida in the third trimester of pregnancy (32 weeks), partially edentulous with an exaggerated vomiting reaction, focusing on successful clinical management using a simple but effective table salt technique and proper fixed prosthesis design, as also to discuss the etiology, clinical symptoms and consequences of vomiting associated with late pregnancy during the dental, especially prosthodontics , treatment in such cases.