Periodontal Status of Women Receiving Antenatal Care and Its Association with their Oral Health-Related Behavior and Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

            The inflammation of the periodontal tissue is positively correlated with the increased levels of primary hormones during pregnancy. Since the levels of these hormones increase substantially during pregnancy, therefore, these extensive hormonal changes may alter periodontal tissue's inflammatory profile, adversely affecting the periodontal status with deleterious effects. Current study was aimed to determineandevaluatethe levels of periodontal parameters and the oral health-related quality of life impact during 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnant women attending the Obstetrics & Gynaecology (O&G) Clinic at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Seventy fivepregnant women with the mean age of 30.5 ( 4.5) years participated in this study. A questionnaire representing different domains of Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)–14 items was devised andadministered amongst the participants, followed by theexamination of periodontal status.The presence of initial signs of periodontal diseases, such as bleeding on probing and increased periodontal pockets, were found amongst almost all of the participants. The mean and standard deviation (SD) of plaque score(PS) and gingival bleeding index (GBI) were recorded to be 49.25% (16.92) and 31.34% (18.04) respectively.Themean periodontal pocket depth(PPD) was found to be 4.1(0.15) mmand the mean percentage of sites of PPD ≥ 4 mm was 23.5% (13.03). The prevalence of women who reported any oral health problem impact measured by the OHIP-14 was higher in the 3rd-trimester group. However, there was no significant difference observed between the participant from different trimesters, for both dental examination and the OHIP-14 questionnaire. The essential outcomes from this study may help in crafting programs to educate pregnant women about the significance of oral health and promote the importance to visit oral health care providers during pregnancy.