PERİODONTAL SAĞLIĞIN İN VİTRO FERTİLİZASYON SONUÇLARI ÜZERİNE ETKİSİNİN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the effect of periodontal status, which has been proven to have effects on systemic health, on the outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment which is applied to infertile women. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sociodemographic data have been collected from female patients diagnosed with infertility through a questionnaire. On the day of the blood test, plaque index, gingival index, probing depth and bleeding index on probing were measured. Recruited patients were classified into the healthy, gingivitis, and periodontitis groups according to the aforementioned criteria. These groups were compared with respect to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) dosage, estradiol and progesterone levels, the number of oocyte and embryos transferred, and pregnancy outcomes. One-way ANOVA, Tukey HDS, Tampane’s T2, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, and chi-square tests were used in this study. RESULTS: The three groups were statistically similar in the aspect of retrieved oocytes, transferred embryos and pregnancy outcomes. Although three groups had statistically similar in terms of estradiol levels on the day of hCG administration, progesterone levels were significantly higher in the periodontitis group compared to healthy and gingivitis groups. CONCLUSIONS: This elevation in progesterone levels observed in the periodontitis group is below the threshold level which could affect the IVF outcomes. Large scale and long-term studies are needed to clarify the effects of periodontal status on IVF outcomes.