Abstract
Objective: To identify the prevalence of caries and periodontal diseases, and factors associated with caries and perceptions of dental care by pregnant women, before and after the educational intervention. Material and Methods: 121 pregnant women from the municipality of Matozinhos (Minas Gerais State, Brazil) participated in this study. Caries and periodontal diseases, sociodemographic characteristics, and access to dental service were evaluated. Perceptions were analyzed before and after the action of operative groups. In addition to descriptive statistical analysis, the DMFT index, dichotomized by the median value, was associated with family income and perceptions of treatment need and health, using the Pearson’s and linear trend chi-square tests. The McNemar's chi-square test was used for comparisons before and after educational interventions. A significance level of p<0.05 was used. Results: The DMFT was equal to 12.00 (±6.33), with 52.2% of carious teeth. Most of the pregnant women showed some level of periodontal disease or dental calculus. Caries was neither associated with family income (p=0.469) and need for dental treatment (p=0.161) nor with health perception (p=0.506). There was an improvement regarding the perception of dental care during pregnancy after educational intervention (p<0.001). Conclusion: The conditions of oral health and oral health care in pregnant women are worrisome. Educational interventions improved the perceptions of dental care, and they pointed out the need dentists have as effective members of the prenatal team.
Highlights
The conception of oral health care in prenatal is diversified between health professionals and managers, as well as among pregnant women making difficult the development of action strategies in this group
This study aimed to identify the prevalence of caries and periodontal diseases and factors associated with caries experience, as well as evaluate the perceptions of oral health care by pregnant women before and after the educational intervention performed by operative groups in a Brazilian municipality
Another study performed in a municipality of Bahia state, Brazil, evidenced that the severity and treatment need for dental caries, in pregnant women users of SUS (Brazilian Unified Health System), were similar to those found in the present study [27]
Summary
The conception of oral health care in prenatal is diversified between health professionals and managers, as well as among pregnant women making difficult the development of action strategies in this group. The popular beliefs contraries to the treatment, low perception of need, fear of feeling pain and causing damage to the baby, difficulties to access the health care services have been considered barriers to dental care in pregnancy [1]. In this context, it is important these actions occur universally according to criteria rigorous tested, well understood, accepted, and disseminated among professionals and patients. The oral health care of pregnant women involves levels of care from the promotion, reception, and prevention to the standardized clinical interventions. Preventive activities must enable to people the clear access to technical information [9], but they should incorporate subjective demands to be the most personalized activities and to represent resignification for pregnant women
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
