Lakshmi, S. Venkata and Srilatha, A. and Satyanarayana, D. and Reddy, L. Swetha and Chalapathi, Suma B. and Meenakshi, S. (2020) Oral health knowledge among a cohort of pregnant women in south India: A questionnaire survey. JOURNAL OF FAMILY MEDICINE AND PRIMARY CARE, 9.0 (6). pp. 3015-3019. ISSN 2249-4863
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Aim: To assess oral health knowledge of pregnant women visiting Government Maternity Hospital, Hyderabad. Materials and Method: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 606 pregnant women aged 18-40 years old. Oral health knowledge of respondents was assessed using the 14-item self-administered questionnaire and responses were recorded on a dichotomous scale (yes/no). The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) package version 20.0. Results: Overall inadequate knowledge regards to oral health was observed among 55.8% pregnant women. Based on knowledge regarding tooth decay, 71.6% of study participants believed that every painful tooth has to be removed and 81% of respondents were unaware of brushing with fluoridated toothpaste prevents tooth decay. Similarly, with respect to gum disease, 77.7% of subjects were not aware of gum disease and around 49.8% unacquainted that bleeding during tooth brushing indicates gum problems. It is enriching to observe, 94.1% of respondents felt oral health is important for general health. On the other hand, a quite alarmingly high percentage (73.9%) of subjects does not know the relationship between oral health and pregnancy. Furthermore, 91.1% and 65.5% of participants were ignorant that pregnancy can increase the tendency of gums to swell or bleed and poor oral health affect their unborn baby, respectively. More than three-fourths of the study participants (84%) had never visited dentist Conclusion: The study highlights limited knowledge allied to oral health among pregnant women and problem-oriented dental visits indicating an urge among this group to scale up their knowledge.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | India, knowledge, oral health, pregnancy |
| Subjects: | Medicine > Primary Health Care |
| Divisions: | Dentistry > Vinayaka Mission‘s Sankarachariyar Dental College, Salem > Dental Surgery |
| Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email techsupport@mosys.org |
| Last Modified: | 06 Feb 2026 07:12 |
| URI: | https://ir.vmrfdu.edu.in/id/eprint/6961 |
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