Women's attitudes to and perceptions of oral health and dental care during pregnancy

Abstract

Aims: To assess pregnant women's opinions on and perceptions of oral health and their relationship to oral hygiene and dental care practices. Methods: Questionnaire survey on perceived oral health, oral hygiene and utilization of dental services among 649 nulliparae attending for antenatal care at all public antenatal clinics in Adelaide, South Australia. Results: Women rated their general health significantly better than their oral health (P-0.001) and attributed more importance to healthy teeth for their baby than for themselves (P-0.001). Only 35% had dental care during pregnancy; 35% had no dental visit for at least two years and 27% reported cost as a major deterrent. Eighteen percent had experienced gingival bleeding before pregnancy and 41% during pregnancy. Gingival bleeding outside pregnancy was clearly related to perceived oral health (P-0.001), but this was less so for bleeding during pregnancy. The latter was not related to age, level of education, employment, marital status, or smoking habits. Only 38% of women with gingival bleeding in pregnancy had a dental care visit in pregnancy and 28% considered their oral health as very good. Conclusions: Many pregnant women do not perceive gingival bleeding as indicating inflammatory disease and seek no professional help for it. Maternity care providers need to devote more attention to oral health in antenatal clinics and antenatal education.

Nivel de Conocimiento de Salud Oral y Utilización de GES Odontológico en Puérperas Atendidas en una Clínica Privada, Santiago, Chile

“…Estos valores son similares a los reportados por Córdova & Bulnes que estiman un 66% y Rodríguez que refiere un 60% para la misma categoría. Estos valores establecen que no existe una relación significativa entre el conocimiento de salud oral y el nivel educacional de la madre, ya que como se puede ver en los resultados la diferencia es estadísticamente significativa (p<0,05 y IC95%) pero no clínicamente, ya que el mayor nivel educacional aumentaría solo 1 punto de conocimiento, como se observa en la RLM, lo que no nos habla de un nivel de conocimiento mayor (Almarales & Llerandi;Keirse & Plutzer, 2010). Para las otras variables es posible ver que a pesar que existe una tendencia de mayor conocimiento de salud oral a medida que es mayor la paridad y la edad, el aumento no es significativo en la RLM.…”

Oral Health Care Education Regarding the Gingival Health, Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior of the Pregnant Women

“…In their study, Capasso et al showed that knowledge about dental problems during pregnancy is insufficient (12). According to Keirse et al study, only 28% of the pregnant women reported "very good" oral health (13). As stated by Wandera et al, George et al and Boggess et al it is essential to improve oral health during pregnancy (14-16).…”

Relationship between Perception of Oral Health, Clinical Conditions and Socio-Behavioral Factors of Mother-Child

“…She is the reference in the transmission of habits, customs and health practices [10,25]. t is of utmost importance to include the data of the mother in the child's treatment, since it is a reference to the child in health matters [18,26]. The unfavorable maternal perception to the child's oral health should be considered as a risk indicator, since she realizes the real risks when they present themselves [27].…”