Attitudes and knowledge of pregnant women about oral health

This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate attitudes and knowledge regarding oral health and infant oral health among pregnant women.

The study involved 325 pregnant women in the Republic of Croatia who completed an anonymous online questionnaire (Google forms) from January to June 2019. The questionnaire was divided into three parts. The first part contained questions about the demographic data experience about oral health in pregnancy. The second part was related to the knowledge of the relationship between oral health and pregnancy. The third section consisted of questions related to knowledge about the oral health of children at the earliest age. The results were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation analysis, and Chi-square test.

The women are mostly informed about oral health in pregnancy from their dentists (53.54%) and least from their general doctors (4%). In pregnancy, gingival bleeding was observed by 52.31% of respondents and tooth mobility by 12.31%. The Chi-square test found that there was a difference in attitude regarding the age at which they should stop breastfeeding between respondents who had their first pregnancy and those who already had children. Only 9.23% of respondents are aware that breastfeeding can cause tooth decay.

Pregnant women in the Republic of Croatia do not have sufficient knowledge, and they are neither aware of the importance of oral health during pregnancy nor infant oral health.