Oral health status of pregnant women attending the ante-natal clinic of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Maintaining good oral hygiene is very important to preventing many oral diseases.  

Aim: To assess the oral health status of women attending ante-natal clinics at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of attendees  at the ante-natal clinic of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Consecutive patients  who gave their consent were recruited. Self-administered questionnaire  was employed. Oral examination was conducted by calibrated examiners and the DMFT and SOHI scores were recorded. The data generated were analyzed using SPSS for window, version 17.0.

Results: A total of 188 patients were involved in this study. Their  age range was 20-42years (mean - 29.8±4.4 years) and  gestational age varied from 6-40 weeks. Almost two third (63.8%) of the subjects were in the third trimester. The DMFT scores of the patients varied from 0-8 (mean-  0.66±1.4). Higher proportion of patients with secondary and tertiary education had high DMFT scores which increased with gestational age of the patients. These  were not statistically significant (p values = 0.946 and 0.361 respectively). The SOHI scores of the patients varied from 0-5.9 ( mean value - 2.18±1.06). Higher proportion of patients with poor oral hygiene (2.0 and above) had primary education and was statistically significant (p value = 0.011). Also, higher proportion of patients with high SOHI score was seen with increase in gestational age (p value = 0.975).

Conclusion: The caries experience and the oral hygiene status of the patients appear to get worse as the pregnancy progresses.

Keywords: Oral Hygiene, DMFT, SOHI, Pregnant women