‎ Fatemeh Jahanimoghadam, Elham Farokh Gisour, Zeynab Heidari ‎‎‎

Abstract

Background and objective: given the importance of oral and dental hygiene on ‎general health and thus the quality of life and due to hormonal changes during ‎pregnancy, this study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of dental pain in ‎pregnant women in Kerman in order to gain knowledge on the oral and dental hygiene ‎status and the therapeutic needs of pregnant mothers.‎ Methodology: This is a descriptive-analytical type of cross-sectional study. A total of ‎‎450 pregnant women referred to private and public health centers in Kerman in 2017 ‎were included into the study. In this study, one-step cluster sampling method was used ‎and a checklist was used to collect data. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS 21 ‎software using Chi-square at a significant level of less than 0.05‎‏.‏ Results: A total of 450 pregnant women with a mean age of 28.2 years and a minimum ‎age of 16 and a maximum age of 45 years participated in this study. The mean DMFT ‎index was 7.61 and in the range of 0 to 32. The prevalence of dental pain in women ‎was reported 50.2%, which 10.9% were related to pre-pregnancy, 31.8% were related ‎to during pregnancy, and 7.6% were related to both times. The highest dental pain was ‎reported in the third trimester with a prevalence of 41.8% and the lowest dental pain ‎was reported in the first trimester, which this difference was not statistically significant ‎‎(P = 0.41). The mean of DMFT index was 7.60 ± 2.24. The mean number of decayed, ‎extracted, and filled teeth was 2.87 ± 2.40, 2.12 ± 2.47 and 2.61 ± 2.68, respectively.‎ Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the oral hygiene care status of ‎mothers was not at a desirable level during pregnancy. Given the high prevalence of ‎dental pain in this study, increasing oral and dental hygiene educational programs and ‎preventive interventions in the area of oral and dental hygiene is necessary during ‎pregnancy‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎.