Periodontal Disease and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome — a Study

The objective of the present study was to assess whether periodontal disease is predictive of premature gestation in an identified population of women at risk for birth complications as a consequence of medical factors. The study population consisted of pregnant women who received uniform pre-natal care in Rama Medical College, Kanpur eastern Uttar Pradesh state of India. Criteria for inclusion were; women aged 18-39 years, with singleton gestation, any weeks’ gestation. Exclusion criteria were; multiple gestation, high risk gestation, hypertension, gestational diabetes, any systemic disease, placenta previa and less than 20 natural teeth. A total of 90 volunteer mothers were entered in the study after giving written consent. This research demonstrated that periodontal disease in normal pregnant women is significantly associated with decreased infant birth weight, providing new evidence on the relationship between periodontal disease and birth weight. Nevertheless, the association between periodontal disease and birth weight infant should be further explored in new observational and intervention studies to establish whether it is casual or incidental, and to generalize the findings in diverse populations.