Association Between Periodontal Health Status and Pregnancy and Delivery Complications in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Pregnant Women: A Case-Control Study.

Purpose: To assess the association between periodontal health and pregnancy or delivery complications in type 1 diabetic (TIDM) and non-diabetic pregnant women.

Materials and methods: 15 TIDM and 15 non-diabetic primiparous women were enrolled in the prospective case-control study. We compared periodontal status, levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), gestational week of birth, birth weight of a newborn and pregnancy or delivery complications between the groups.

Results: TIDM pregnant women gave birth statistically significantly earlier (2 weeks) (p = 0.034), but not before the 37th week of gestation. The odds ratio (OR) for pregnancy or delivery complications was ~ 5 times greater (95% CI: 1.1-26.4; p = 0.033) and for Caesarean section (C-section) ~ 6 times greater (95%CI: 1.2-30.7; p = 0.032) in TIDM group. The association between periodontal disease (PD) and pregnancy or delivery complications was not statistically significant in either group. The presence of TIDM (p = 0.002; R2 = 0.28), a higher bleeding-on-probing/full-mouth bleeding score (FMBS) (p = 0.043; R2 = 0.14), and a higher level of HbA1c (p = 0.026; R2 = 0.16) were statistically significantly more often associated with an earlier gestational week of birth. Higher levels of HbA1c were statistically significantly positively associated with a higher frequency of pregnancy or delivery complications (p = 0.024) and a higher frequency of C-section (p = 0.051).

Conclusion: There are strong indications that both endocrinological and periodontal therapy should form a part of preventive prenatal care.