Physiologic and pharmacologic factors related to the provision of dental care during pregnancy.

: During pregnancy, numerous physiologic changes occur that allow the mother to accommodate the needs of the developing fetus. Oral health care professionals should be knowledgeable about these changes and the impact they have on the safe provision of prophylactic and therapeutic dental care to pregnant women. Herein, the authors describe maternal physiologic adaptations and discuss changes in drug processing and placental drug transfer in order to enhance the knowledge base of oral health care professionals.