The relationship between knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant women about oral and dental care

Pregnancy is a natural process which may create some changes in different parts of body such as oral and dental. These changes will lead to oral diseases, if enough and timely care of oral and dental parts was not taken. Women may experience increased gingivitis or a pregnancy gingivitis beginning in the second or third month of pregnancy that increases in severity throughout the eight month. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between women's knowledge, attitude, and practice on oral and dental care during pregnancy. It was correlational study. The data collected by questionnaire. Questionnaire had four parts; first part was about samples' demographic data and three other parts were about knowledge, attitude, and practice of women on oral and dental care. Samples were 320 pregnant women in 28th-42nd weeks of pregnancy. The sampling method was stratified sampling. Results showed that 5.6 of women had high, 65.9 had average and 28.4 had low knowledge about oral and dental cares. 30 of samples had positive and 70 had negative attitude, also 34.4 had good practice on oral and dental care According to the results of analysis of variances (one way ANOVA), knowledge and attitude, knowledge and practice, attitude and practice of samples was significantly related (P=0.000). The relationship between knowledge and attitude was more than others (r=0.512). Ideally women should begin their pregnancy without periodontal infections, and they should be educate and motivated to maintain a high level of oral hygiene prior to and throughout pregnancy. Also the reasons of their not receiving suitable dental care should be studied on. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2008