SELF-REPORTED ORAL HEALTH, ORAL HYGIENE HABITS, AND DENTAL ATTENDENCE OF PRIGNENT WOMEN IN TULKAREM CITY
During pregnancy, women become more susceptible to periodontal disease and gingivitis (1). Associations between poor maternal oral health, preeclampsia and preterm labor at maternal level were reported by some studies (2, 3, 4, 5). This study aims at describing self-reported oral health, oral hygiene habits, and dental practices among pregnant women in maternal health clinic in Tulkarem City, North West Bank.
METHODS:
This is a cross-sectional study, where a self-administered questionnaire was distributed on a convenient sample of 120 pregnant women visiting Maternal and Child Care Unit of Ministry of Health in Tulkarem. Results are expressed as numbers and percentages of respondents for each question and analyzed with SPSS; the Chi-Square test was used to evaluate the differences between several variables and the level of significant set to P<0.05.
RESULTS:
One hundred participants answered self-reported questionnaire about oral health (response rate=83%), 68% reported having dental caries and 31% reported having gingival problem. 43% of pregnant women visited dentist during pregnancy.
Women work status and their believes that dental treatment during pregnancy might affect fetus were found to be significantly associated with their visits to dentist (P-Values=0.04 and 0.03 respectively.) No significant association was indicated between pregnant women level of education and their tendency to visit dentist (P-Value=0.26).
A boarder line association was indicated between the frequency of teeth brushing and level of education, where educated women tend to brush their teeth more than non-educated women (P-Value=0.05). Educated women tend to use additional means of teeth cleaning such as miswak, mouth wash and dental floss more than non educated women, however this association was not significant (P-Value=0.07).
CONCLUSIONS:
This study shows that the Palestinian women need a health education program before and during pregnancy, as most women do not visit dentist during pregnancy.