Self-reported gingivitis among pregnant women and nonpregnant women in the City of Derna, Libya: Is there any difference? a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Background: Good oral hygiene maintain for pregnant women is the optimal goal of all health-care professionals. The purpose of this study is to assess and compare the prevalence of self-reported gingivitis among pregnant and nonpregnant women in the city of Derna, Libya. Materials and Methods: a cross-sectional survey design was used. A total of 363 women (182 [50.1%] pregnant and 182 [49.9%] nonpregnant women) who attended to public and private clinics of maternity health care in Derna city were randomly invited to have face-to-face interviews to evaluate their gingival and dental status. A questionnaire was used to explore the gingival status of the participants, including oral hygiene practice, gingival bleeding, socioeconomic status, and dental conditions. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software and applying appropriate statistical tests at P = 0.05. Results: The overall mean age of the participants is 27.60 ± 6.04 years (28.70 ± 6.09 and 26.50 ± 5.80 years in pregnant and nonpregnant women, respectively, P = 0.001). The prevalence of gingivitis (bleeding on using of tooth brushing) among all participated was 64.7% (68.1% and 61.3% for pregnant and nonpregnant women, respectively, P = 0.175). The pregnant women were more likely to report bleeding from their gum during brushing their teeth as compared to the nonpregnant women (odds ratio = 1.34, 95% confidence interval, 0.87–2.07). Conclusion: The prevalence of self-reported gingivitis in our study did not approach the statistically significant difference between pregnant and nonpregnant women. However, promoting oral health during pregnancy should be a routine practice to raise awareness about this common disease within pregnant women community.