%0 Journal Article
%T Oral Care during Pregnancy: Attitudes of Brazilian Public Health Professionals
%A Renata Toledo Alves
%A Rosangela Almeida Ribeiro
%A Luciane Rezende Costa
%A Claudio Rodrigues Leles
%A Maria do Carmo Matias Freire
%A Saul Martins Paiva
%J International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
%D 2012
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/ijerph9103454
%X There is little information about health professionals¡¯ behavior regarding oral health care during pregnancy. We evaluated attitudes of obstetricians/gynecologists, nurses, and dentists working at a public community service towards pregnant women¡¯s oral health. Health professionals responded to a self-applied questionnaire. Cluster analysis identified two clusters of respondents; Chi-square, Student¡¯s t test, and logistic regression were used to compare the two clusters in terms of the independent variables. Respondents were categorized into cluster 1 ¡®less favorable¡¯ (n = 159) and cluster 2 ¡®more favorable¡¯ (n = 124) attitudes. Professionals that had attended a residency or specialization program (OR = 2.08, 95% CI = 1.15¨C3.77, p = 0.016) and worked exclusively at the public service (OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.10¨C4.20, p = 0.025) presented more favorable attitudes. Obstetricians/gynecologists (OR = 0.22, 95% CI = 0.09¨C0.54, p = 0.001) and nurses (OR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.29¨C0.86, p = 0.013) showed less favorable attitudes than dentists. Health care providers¡¯ attitudes regarding pregnant women¡¯s oral health were related to their occupation, qualification, and dedication to the public service.
%K attitudes
%K health personnel
%K oral health
%K pregnancy
%U http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/10/3454