Effects of an Oral Health Management Program During Pregnancy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

To evaluate the effects of a Health Belief Model-based oral health management program on self-efficacy, oral health behaviors, and three periodontal clinical indicators among pregnant women.

A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 65 participants randomly allocated to the intervention (n = 39) and control (n = 26) groups. The intervention included one face-to-face education, three video calls, two online lectures, and regular follow-up supervision in 1 month, while the control group received one face-to-face education. Self-efficacy for oral self-care, three periodontal clinical indicators, and oral health behaviors were measured at baseline (T₀), post-intervention (T₁), and 2-month follow-up (T₂).

The total and three domains' scores on the Self-efficacy Scale for Self-care in the intervention group increased appreciably (p < 0.001). Oral health behaviors among the intervention group exhibited more remarkable improvement than the control group did at the two post-baseline times (all p < 0.05). The intervention group showed significantly higher scores in gingival index (p = 0.021) and plaque index (p = 0.001) than the control group at T₁, while only plaque index scores were significantly different between the two groups at T₂ (p < 0.001).

The findings demonstrated an effective educational strategy to promote self-efficacy, oral health behaviors, and oral health status in pregnant women.