Assessment of Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth Index among Pregnant Women in Mazandaran Province, Northern of Iran in 2016
Author(s): Mahdi Babaei Hatkehlouei, Maede Salehi, Hamed Tari, Tahereh Molania
Abstract
Some of society groups are more at risk of tooth decay due to their specific physiologic conditions. One of these specific conditions is natural process of pregnancy occurring in accordance with extensive changes in body of mothers so that these changes comprise oral and dental conditions too. The purpose of this study is to examine Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index among pregnant women in Mazandaran province, northern of Iran. This cross-sectional study was done in 2016 (between February - May) on 1842 pregnant women of Mazandaran province, Northern of Iran. The data were collected using a questionnaire including relevant questions to demographic information, healthcare level of oral health as well as relevant question to visiting dentist before pregnancy. DMFT index of pregnant women was recorded by dentist after checkup. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS version 19.0 software with descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (t-test and Chi-square). The P< 0.05 was considered as significant value. Age range of participated women was between 18 and 32 years old. The mean of DMFT index among pregnant women in Mazandaran Province was equal to 13±6. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between education and awareness level of oral health as well as a significant relationship between DMFT index and awareness level (P<0.05). According to the obtained results of this study, DMFT index of pregnant women was high based on other similar studies. Oral and dental health of pregnant women is related to their education and awareness level toward required actions to protect it.
<