Evaluation of oral health among pregnant women in a Nigerian population

Afolabi, A. O., Adedigba, M. A. and Adekanmbi, Victor ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7394-1640 2014. Evaluation of oral health among pregnant women in a Nigerian population. East African Journal of Public Health 11 (1)

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Abstract

Objective: This study evaluates the oral health knowledge and practise among pregnant women in a Nigerian population. Consecutive pregnant women attending three tertiary level of care were recruited. An interviewer administered questionnaire was used to assessing socio-demographic variables, dental visiting habits, oral hygiene habits and oral health awareness. Results Four hundred and eighty participated in this study out of which 263 (54.8%) had low oral health knowledge and had never visited dentist before 362 (75.4%). The odds of having high oral hygiene knowledge increased by about 2 folds when the respondent is older than 35 years compared to less than 20 years. Also, the likelihood of having high oral hygiene knowledge increased by 127% if the respondents had oral disease compared to those without oral disease. Presence of gum swelling has 3 folds increase on oral hygiene knowledge than those without it. Dental visit has the odd of increasing oral hygiene knowledge by 5 folds compared with non visiting. Also, the likelihood of practising high oral hygiene reduced by 82% if the respondent visited dentist when had complaint compared to those who had visited dentist only once. Respondents who had been advised by a dentist on oral hygiene before were 146% more likely to have high oral hygiene in pregnancy when compared with those who had not been advised before. Conclusion: The oral health knowledge of the pregnant women was very low. Hence, a special dental program should be designed to meet the needs of the pregnant women.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine
Publisher:	East African Public Health Association
ISSN:	0856-8960
Last Modified:	03 Nov 2022 09:43
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/105826

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