Pregnant women's self-report of oral health condition and its relation with oral clinical status

According to the previous studies, the prevalence of dental and oral diseases increases during pregnancy, while most oral diseases can be prevented by accurate observing of hygiene. This study was performed with aim to assess the clinical status of oral health in pregnant women and its relation with self-report and oral hygiene health performance during pregnancy.
This cross-sectional study was performed on 204 pregnant women at second trimester referred to public and private clinics at Babol city, Mazandaran province in 2014. A questionnaire included demographic information, self-report of oral health, health performance and knowledge about oral health care during pregnancy was completed by the participants. Then, in clinical examination, the gingival condition was evaluated using GI (gingival indices) and the dental status was evaluated using DMFT (decay-missing-filling-tooth). Data was analyzed by SPSS software (version 22) and t-test and chi-square test. P There was statistically significant relationship between the dental visit before pregnancy with better oral clinical status (P Although pregnant women are almost aware about their oral health clinical status, but they abstain for dental visiting because of false awareness, so, the level of pregnant women's oral health status can be improved by proper education.