ABSTRACT:
Introduction: Proper dental care during pregnancy is very important, since pregnancy causes various hormonal changes in the body that can actually increase the risk of developing gum diseases. Oral health during pregnancy can affect the developing baby and the pregnancy outcomes. Thus there is a very important link between dental hygiene and pregnancy. The most common gum diseases are gingivitis and periodontitis. Materials and method It was a questionnaire based study conducted with a batch of 30 pregnant women from Kancheepuram District of India. The questionnaire prepared for the survey consisted of a total of 16 questions. The information collected was then analyzed and presented in statistics. The results were then discussed. Result: Almost 60% of the pregnant women had experienced gingivitis and periodontitis, they reported having problems in their teeth and gums, causing pain and discomfort during pregnancy and more than 50% of them said it occurred frequently while, only 15% had said they never experienced it. Approximately 70% of the women believed that pregnancy outcomes were related to oral hygiene. Conclusion: This survey was only conducted in Kancheepuram District of India, but we can conclude that there is a need to provide oral health education for pregnant women since it is during the time of pregnancy that chances of infection increases and it may also affect the developing foetus.Thus there is a link between oral hygiene and pregnancy outcomes.