Contribution to the Study of Dental Caries and Periodontal Disease During Pregnancy in the Ci of Feira de Santana, BA, Brazil

Objective: To verify the influence of the gestational period on the prevalence of dental caries and periodontal disease in the city of Feira de Santana, BA, Brazil. Method: This study was an epidemiological, cross-sectional investigation developed at the Health Centers that offer a regular prenatal service in the city of Feira de Santana, BA, Brazil. A total of 376 pregnant women attending the regular prenatal service, without systemic diseases and aged between 13-40 years, were examined by a single calibrated examiner and an annotator, who were previously calibrated using the DMFT and CPITN indexes (K. 0.9844 and 0.8831, respectively), and their treatment needs were evaluated. The Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used for statistical analysis of data, employing the SAS (Statistical Analysis System) software. A significance level of 5.0% was set for all analyses. Results: The mean DMFT of the sample was 10.42. Comparing the indexes at each gestational trimester only the mean of filled teeth differed significantly (p<0.05). As much as 90.7% of the pregnant women were classified as caries-active patients, and 62.5% women in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy were classified as low caries-active parients. The presence of supra and/ or subgingival calculus was also high, revealing a great need of instructions on oral hygiene and supra and/or subgingival scaling. Conclusion: There was no evidence that the gestational period had an influence on the prevalence of caries and periodontal disease, but it was clear the need of implantation of an oral health attention service to this population.