INVESTIGATING THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICE OF PREGNANT WOMEN ABOUT PERIODONTAL HEALTH AND ORAL HEALTH, AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE FETUS DURING PREGNANCY

Background: Periodontal infection leads to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preterm delivery, low birth weight, preeclampsia, miscarriage, or early pregnancy loss. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant women about periodontal health and oral health and their effect on the fetus. Methods: The present study is a descriptive-analytical study on 210 pregnant women in the first and second trimesters referring to health centers in Birjand in 2019. The tool used in this study was a researchermade questionnaire with four parts: women's demographic information, and women's knowledge, attitude, and practice, the validity, and reliability of which were confirmed. After data collection, it was entered into SPSS software version 22 and then analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and one-way analysis of variance. The significance level was considered 0.05 in all tests. Results and Discussion: In this study, the mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant women were 5.6 ±1.92, 55.9 ± 5.1, and 25.9± 3.7, respectively. There was a significant difference between the mean attitude score and mothers' age. There was also a significant difference between the mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and practice of women and significant difference in knowledge, attitude, and practice of employee and housewife pregnant women; In terms practice, there were significant differences between pregnant housewives and self-employed women. There was a significant relationship between the mean of these scores and mothers' jobs so that the mean scores were higher in employed women than others. Conclusions: The results of our study showed that the average score of knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant women in Birjand regarding oral hygiene during pregnancy is not satisfactory and appropriate.