Seongmo Dental Clinic · Seongbuk-gu, Seoul
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Anaesthesia, radiographs, timing and medication · Seongmo Dental Clinic, Sungshin Women’s University Station · Board-certified specialist in Integrated Dentistry
💡 The short answer. Yes. Leaving an infected tooth during pregnancy is riskier than treating it, and local anaesthesia and shielded intraoral radiographs are established as safe for mother and baby.
The second trimester (weeks 14 to 27) is the most comfortable time, and where there is pain or infection emergency care comes first regardless of stage.
Seongmo Dental Clinic proceeds after confirming with the obstetrician, in short sessions under computer-controlled painless anaesthesia.
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Lidocaine, the local anaesthetic used in dentistry, is classified as safe for use during pregnancy.
The small amount of epinephrine in the anaesthetic solution is also established as not being a problem at usual doses, because the quantity is small and it acts only locally in the gum.
If anything, inadequate anaesthesia with the resulting pain and tension is worse for the mother.
Seongmo Dental Clinic uses painless anaesthesia delivered slowly by a computer-controlled device, which reduces both injection pain and tension.
Root canal treatment needs a small intraoral radiograph showing the root tip. The dose from digital intraoral imaging is extremely low, the area imaged is inside the mouth and far from the abdomen, and a lead apron and thyroid collar provide shielding.
Under those conditions the dose reaching the fetus does not even reach the level of a day of natural background radiation.
During pregnancy Seongmo Dental Clinic avoids higher-dose imaging such as CBCT and takes only the minimum number of intraoral images actually needed.
Acetaminophen is the basis for analgesia, and anti-inflammatory analgesics are avoided particularly in the third trimester.
Where an antibiotic is needed, one with established safety in pregnancy such as a penicillin or cephalosporin is used, and tetracyclines are not.
Prescriptions are issued after confirming with the obstetrician in charge.
Leaving an infection at the root tip brings continuing pain, lost sleep and difficulty eating, and if the infection spreads to the face emergency care becomes necessary.
There are also studies reporting an association between oral infection and preterm birth.
Avoiding treatment during pregnancy can end in extraction after delivery, so for a tooth with confirmed infection, opening and disinfecting the canal is the safe course regardless of stage.
What follows from delay is described in what happens if you put off a root canal.
We obtain obstetric confirmation first, and instead of long appointments we adjust to around 30 minutes at a time.
Removing the infection and sealing take priority, and the crown can be made in-house on the same day in the second trimester or deferred until after delivery.
Either way we plan so the tooth is not left in a temporary state for long. The process is on the root canal treatment and one-day crown pages.
30 seconds on foot from Exit 2 of Sungshin Women’s University Station, +82-2-922-3966.
Can a root canal be done in the first trimester?
Where there is pain or infection, emergency treatment is carried out even in the first trimester. Non-urgent treatment is generally deferred to the second trimester.
Do dental X-rays affect the baby?
Digital intraoral imaging shielded with a lead apron and thyroid collar delivers an extremely low dose to the fetus and is established as safe. Larger imaging such as CBCT is avoided during pregnancy.
Is the dental anaesthetic safe?
Lidocaine, the dental local anaesthetic, is classified as safe for use in pregnancy, and the small quantity acts only locally in the gum.
Can I have a root canal while breastfeeding?
Yes. Local anaesthetics and ordinary dental prescriptions pass into breast milk in extremely small amounts, so there is no reason to defer treatment while breastfeeding.
Related information
Seongmo Dental Clinic opened in 1998. I have held this position as the third director since April 2022, and I have one standard for choosing equipment: if I would not use it on my own family, I do not use it on my patients.
One more scanner must not mean more treatment. If anything, it should mean cutting less, extracting less and finishing in one visit, from a more accurate original.
The goal is not to be first with new equipment, but to offer the better of what is possible today to the patient sitting in the chair.
📍 3rd floor, 2 Dongsomun-ro 20ga-gil, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul
🚉 30-second walk from Exit 2, Sungshin Women’s University Station (Parking: up to 2 hours at Utah Mall)
📞 +82-2-922-3966
📅 Mon/Wed/Fri 09:30–18:30 · Tue 09:30–20:00 (evening clinic) · Sat 09:30–14:30 (no lunch break) · Weekday lunch 13:00–14:30 · Closed Thu, Sun and public holidays
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🟡 Opened in 1998; third-generation director in charge of care since April 2022
⚕️ This article was written for information purposes in line with Korean medical law and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s medical advertising standards.
Equipment specifications given here come from the manufacturer’s official material and the figures on accuracy and comfort are values reported in academic literature; the outcome and course of individual treatment vary with the condition of the mouth.
Please decide on a specific diagnosis and treatment plan after consulting your treating clinician.
This article was written as of August 2026. Equipment specifications and cost-related content are reviewed and updated every three months.
Peer-reviewed sources supporting the explanations above, selected by Dr. Tae-yoon Jang (Director, Seongmo Dental Clinic). Individual results may vary.
