Resumen

CORNEJO, Celina et al. Oral health status and oral health-related quality of life in pregnant women from socially deprived populations. Acta odontol. latinoam. [online]. 2013, vol.26, n.2, pp.68-74. ISSN 1852-4834.

The aim of the present work was to explore whether there is a relationship between oral health status and oral health-related quality of life in pregnant women from socially deprived populations in Buenos Aires City. Eighty pregnant women (age18-39 x=25.19}6.56) in their 1st/2nd trimester were sampled from the population of women visiting a health center located in the south of Buenos Aires City for their pregnancy check-ups. The impact of oral disease was assessed using the Spanish validated version (Lopez, 2006) of OHIP-49 (Slade and Spencer, 1994), which includes 49 items grouped into 7 domains. Each question has five possible answers, to which values ranging from 1 to 5 were assigned. To assess oral health status, 4 calibrated researchers performed a clinical examination and recorded: Gingival Index (Loe and Silness, 1963); depth on probing, clinical attachment level, bleeding on probing and DMFT discriminating its components. Variables were analyzed in the population as a whole and in groups regarding previous dental attention (presence of fillings). Statistical analysis included: Chi Square test to establish association between variables and t-test to compare groups. 93.75% of the patients showed clinical signs of gingivitis, 2.5% showed clinical signs of periodontitis. Mean DMFT was 12.24}6.48 (D/DMFT=6.46}4.64; M/DMFT=4.09}4.31; F/DMFT=2.53}3.52); 73.3% of the patients had at least one missing tooth; 92.1% presented active caries lesions; 53.7% had at least one filling. Most frequent impacts were reported in the domains: psychological discomfort (59.9%=frequent concern about dental problems) and functional limitation (51.1%= frequent perception that "a tooth did not look good"). Oral health status and oral health-related quality of life showed no significant association. Domains involving functional limitation (p<0.04) and physical disability (p<0.01) showed higher levels of impact in the group of patients with previous dental care (presence of fillings). Oral health-related quality of life did not reflect health status; nevertheless, it may be an intervenient variable regarding demand for dental service.

Palabras clave : Quality of life; Pregnant women; Oral health status.

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