Oral health perspectives of maternal women and their health care providers

Historically pregnant women have been discouraged from dental treatment during their pregnancies due to long-held beliefs, unsubstantiated by evidence, that dental treatment during pregnancy is unsafe. Most dental procedures have been demonstrated to be safe during pregnancy, and current guidelines informing the standard of care for dental treatment in pregnant patients reflect this. Additionally, it has been established that underserved populations have reduced access to dental care in the United States, putting individuals within that population at greater risk for oral disease. These are both contributory factors to the disparate oral health outcomes and disparities in access to dental care observed in pregnant women of underserved populations. The public health relevance is clear in that those existing disparities in oral health outcomes and access to dental care observed in populations categorized as being of low socioeconomic status are increased in severity by pregnancy, a natural life event experienced by a majority of women. While it is known that disparities exist, little information is available on specific factors in the patient-provider relationship that may contribute to these disparities. It is therefore important that qualitative data gathering be conducted to better define perspectives on the topic of oral health during pregnancy in populations of pregnant women, their medical providers, and social service providers who interact with pregnant women. Resulting data will be used to identify gaps in knowledge on oral health during pregnancy with the intention that any identified gaps become targets for future public health interventions