Teratogenesis: a review of the basic principles with a discussion of selected agents: Part III

Selecting drugs for the pregnant dental patient

When treating pregnant patients, dental practitioners should avoid prescribing some drugs routinely used for local anesthesia, sedation, analgesia or infection. Dental practitioners need to determine that the potential benefits of the drug required for the mother's dental care outweigh the risks to her fetus. This article briefly reviews the relative risks of therapeutic agents commonly used in dental care to help practitioners select the safest drugs for use by pregnant patients.

Congenital defects as a cause of perinatal mortality of beef calves

Congenital anomalies occur at low levels in beef cattle. Usually, severe defects result in abortion of the calf or return to service. In cases that do reach term, however, some die while others may survive with or without assistance from the manager. Regardless of whether the calf survives, the fact that abnormal development occurred raises questions as to etiology of the defect(s) and its impact on the herd. By defining the defect and using a logical method of assessing the cause, one can assess the impact of that defect on future herd production.