Effectiveness of an integrated perinatal oral health assessment and promotion program on the knowledge in Indian pregnant women

摘要

Background: Oral health during pregnancy plays a crucial role in the overall health and well-being of pregnant women. Evidence shows that most young children acquire cariogenic organisms from their mothers. Poor maternal knowledge about oral diseases combined with inappropriate feeding can lead to severe caries among young children. The aim of study was to assess the oral health status of pregnant women and to evaluate the gain in their knowledge after educational session in an antenatal setting. Materials and Methods: It is a pre- and post-intervention study carried out on the pregnant women (n = 198) attending an antenatal clinic in a tertiary care hospital. A specially designed semi-structured 14-point questionnaire was used to assess the pre- and post-knowledge and attitude to the oral health. Each participant was educated for self and infant oral care with the help of a specially prepared colored printed booklet. Kruskal–Wallis test was used to explore the associations between the age, education and socioeconomic class and knowledge; Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare pre- and post-knowledge score. Results: Median preoral health knowledge–attitude score was found to be 4 (0–8) and was found to be associated with the level of education (P = 0.014) and socioeconomic class (0.019). There was a significant improvement in the median postknowledge score to 7 (2–10) (P 0.001) following oral health educational session in all categories. Conclusions: An integrated preventive oral health checkup and educational program to pregnant women can benefit the dental health of the women and children. Prenatal care workers can be involved to disseminate the oral health awareness to pregnant women during antenatal visits.