Impact of Oral Health Problems on the Quality of Life of Pregnant Women

Objectives: 1) to evaluate the impact of oral health problems on the quality of life of pregnant women by the simplified Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire as well by the presence of dental caries, periodontal disease and denture use/need; 2) to correlate the sociodemographic variables and the oral health conditions revealed in the clinical examinations with the OHIP-14. Method: In addition to the application of the OHIP-14 questionnaire, clinical examination of the oral conditions (CPI - community periodontal index, DMFT and prosthetic evaluation) was performed on 51 pregnant women, who sought dental treatment between April 2008 and August 2010 at the Preventive Dentistry Clinic. Descriptive analyses were made for sample characterization, bivariate analysis (chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests) and multiple logistic regressions at a 5% significance level to assess the correlation between the impact of oral health on the quality of life of pregnant women and the socio-demographic and clinical variables. Results: The OHIP-14 data showed a lesser impact of oral health on the women’s quality of life. The mean DMFT was 12.8; 70.6% of the pregnant women presented dental calculus and 58.8% needed prostheses. The association between OHIP-14 data and last dental visit and DMFT remained in the final regression model (p<0.05). Conclusion: Caries experience of the pregnant women was considered high. Most of them needed prostheses and presented dental calculus. The OHIP-14 presented a low impact on this population and was significantly influenced by the last dental visit and the DMFT index.