Effect of Dental care Information Support on Level of Oral Health Knowledge, Practice and Gingival Condition During Pregnancy

ABSTRACT Background: Good oral health during pregnancy can not only improve the quality of life of the pregnant mother, but also potentially reduce complications during pregnancy Aim: This study aims to evaluate the effect of dental care information support on the level of oral health knowledge, practice, and gingival condition during pregnancy. Subjects and Methods: Quasi-experimental (pre-post-test) research design was utilized in this study. A purposive sample of 100 pregnant women was recruited in this study based on certain inclusion criteria. Two groups 50 each, a study group who received dental care information, support and control groups who received the routine care from two MCH centers at El- Fayoum Governorate were randomly assigned. Seven tools were used to collect the needed data. The results: Findings of this study reveal that no statistical significant differences were found between the two groups regarding to demographic characteristics (p = > 0.05). Improvement in mean knowledge score among study group of 35.52 ± 9.08 to 57.94 ± 4.87 (pre-post-test) with a highly statistically significant difference (p = 0.00). Moreover, improvements in the mean practice score from 6.66 ± 4.05 of pre-test for 20.78 ± 2.13. Post-test ((p = 0.000,). Also, the mean of bleeding on probing (BOP) decreased since 11.27 ± 3.22 to 4.38±1.69 as well as, the mean plaque index (PI) decreased since 85.49 ± 9.5 to 47.02 ± 9.09 respectively as indicators of improvement in gingival conditions. In conclusion providing information support for pregnant women about oral health care improvement their knowledge and practice as well as improvement in the degree of gingival inflammation associated with pregnancy. Integration of oral health screening through routine antenatal check-up and developing programs to educate mothers about the importance of oral and dental health care during and before planning for pregnancy were needed.