Periodontal health awareness and oral hygiene practice among pregnant women at prince Hashem bin Abdullah II hospital

Abstract EN

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess periodontal health awareness and oral hygiene practices among pregnant women.

Methods: A quantitative and cross-sectional research design was employed.

A sample of 200 pregnant women attending Prince Hashem bin Abdullah II Hospital completed the study.

Women completed questionnaires regarding their socio-demographic characteristics and the level of periodontal health awareness and oral health care practices.

Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used to analyze the data.

Results: Only 26.5% of women believe that gum disease could harm infants.

In addition, 75.5% believe that pregnancy is a common cause of teeth loss.

About 42.5% believe that it is normal to lose one tooth during pregnancy.

Furthermore, only 39.5% visited a dental clinic during pregnancy.

Age, number of children, and level of education were associated with some items related to periodontal health knowledge and oral care practices (P<.05).

The most commonly reported reasons for not visiting a dentist were the belief that there is no need to visit a dentist (39.5%) and the belief that dental treatment could harm the fetus (30.5%).

Conclusions: Unhealthy self-care practices and Knowledge deficit regarding some aspects of periodontal health were evident in the current study.

It is important to address these oral health practices by dental and medical health providers when providing follow-up services.