Determinants on Dental Caries Among Pregnant Mothers in Medical Officer of Health Area, Ambalantota, Sri Lanka

Introduction: The negative health effects of dental caries are cumulative, tracking from childhood to adulthood and most dental caries is now occurring in adults [1-3]. Oral diseases such as dental caries, gingivitis, and periodontal diseases can occur during pregnancy [4-9]. This study was carried out in Medical officer of health (MOH) area, Ambalantota, Sri Lanka. 363 pregnant women in first visit attending antenatal clinic were recruited. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects who agreed to take part in the study. Ethical approval was taken from faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna. Prior to a dental examination, demographic information regarding age, education, occupation, socioeconomic status and residence were obtained from the participants using interviewer administered questionnaire. Findings of dental examination were entered examination table separately. The mean DMFT among antenatal women was 3.8 ± 5.17, with 3.27 (± 2.31) decayed teeth, 1.85 (± 1.87) missing teeth, and 1.4 (± 1.4) filled teeth. Results were shown in table 3 with binary logistic analysis of DMFT for the overall sample of 363 pregnant women. The final model explained 6.3% to 8.4% of DMFT variation (dependant variable) with variation of independent variables (educational level up to Ordinary level, Sinhla over non-sinhala, income over 30,000, knowledge on dental services free by government and ever taken treatment) and the p-value for Hosmer–Lemeshow test of goodness of fit was 0.957, which indicated an acceptable fit of the model. In the final model significant predictors were Sinhala: Non-sinhala (adjusted OR [95% CI]: 5.67 [1.25-25.99], p=0.026) and “ever taken treatment for dental diseases”( Yes vs No: adjusted OR [95% CI]: 0.432 [0.274-0.680], p<0.0001). In this study, pregnant women in Ambalantota MOH area were found to have a significantly higher DMFT value among Sinhala women over Non- Sinhala women and similarly significantly lower DMFT value among pregnant women who sought treatment for their dental diseases against women who did not