Abstract
This study was conducted on 200 women. One hundred fifty pregnant wo-men at different stages of pregnancy, fifty women in each group, first, second and third trimesters were included in the study. The other fifty non–pregnant women with comparable age were used as a control gr-oup. The sample was taken from Al–Batool Teaching Hospital and Antenatal Care Unit of Al–Hadbaa Health Center, Mosul during the period from June 2001 to March 2002.The study was done to assess the cha-nges in the concentration of certain comp-ounds of human unstimulated whole mi-xed saliva; study the frequency and severity of Gingival Index, evaluate Dec-ayed, Missing and Filled Teeth Index (DMFTI) during pregnancy and also to correlate the pregnancy related changes (if any) in human unstimulated whole mixed saliva with oral manifestation during diff-erent stages of pregnancy.The result of this study during preg-nancy included decreased salivary flow rate, pH, total protein and calcium conc-entrations, while increased α–amylase act-ivity, sodium concentration, severity of gingival inflammation and DMFT Index were identified compared with the con-trols.In conclusion, the pregnancy involves complex changes with every system in even healthy women is altered to some degree during pregnancy. It modifies oral health and saliva composition.
Highlights
Pregnancy is a physiological process associated with many functional and compositional alterations in almost all systems of the body to varying extents
The reduction in flow rate during pregnancy due to hormonal effect especially Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) decreases markedly in second trimester, while Human Chorionic Somatomammotropin (HCS) and prog-esterone increases markedly and flow rate decreases up to its half value compared with the control.[15, 16] For the reduction in pH value during pregnancy, is related to the effect of progesterone hormone, which is known to decrease plasma bicarbonate level during pregnancy resulting in a decrease in the pH.[17, 18]
For α–amylase activity this increase could induce a rise in the substrate of acidogenic microorganisms; contributing to the decreased pH observed during pregnancy.[19, 20] For total protein concentration the significant lower level was found in the first trimester and second trimester groups, and gradually increased to retain approximately its normal value in the third trimester
Summary
Pregnancy is a physiological process associated with many functional and compositional alterations in almost all systems of the body to varying extents. It is a state of physiological stress which is accompanied by profound hormonal, biochemical and metabolic changes. A variety of physiological changes occurring during pregnancy influence salivary secretion and composition and oral health. The information gained about the salivary clinical, physical and biochemical changes during pregnancy would be of interest to physiologists and endocrinologists and might prove to be of value to the practicing dentists and obstetricians.[10, 11]
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