1. Periodontal Infection and Low Term Birth Weight 1
Periodontal Infection and Low Term Birth Weight
Megan Leifson B32
December 1, 2015

2. Periodontal Infection and Low Term Birth Weight 2
In my research,I discovered many articles that suggested that chronic periodontal infections
might be associated with preterm births. I thought this was very interesting. I knew that things
like gestational diabetes and an increase of caries was a possibility that came along with
pregnancy. But, those are things that happen just when you’re pregnant, and they’ll be over when
the baby is born. Those things don’t seem to be as life threatening as a preterm birth. This is a
scary,real thing! This is saying that periodontal disease can affect the birth of babies. The authors
in the article I chose conducted a prospective study to test for the association between periodontal
infections and preterm births.
In their study, a total of 1,313 pregnant women were recruited from the A total of
Perinatal Emphasis Research Center at the University of Alabama. Complete periodontal,
medical and behavioral assessments were made between 21 and 24 weeks gestation. After the
babies were delivered, medical records were looked at to determine each infant's gestational age
at birth. From the data, the authors calculated relationships between periodontal disease and
preterm birth. They took in to account risk factors like smoking, race and maternalage.
The results were interesting. “Patients with severe or generalized periodontal disease had
a lower gestational age. The average preterm delivery was 37 weeks. Adjusted odds ratios (95
percent confidence interval) of 4.45 (2.16–9.18) for preterm delivery (that is, before 37 weeks
gestational age). The adjusted odds ratio increased with increasing prematurity to 5.28 (2.05–
13.60) before 35 weeks' gestational age and to 7.07 (1.70–27.4) before 32 weeks' gestational
age.” (Periodontal Infection and PretermBirth, 2001). The authors’ data showed that the
presence of periodontics at 21 to 24 weeks’ gestation and preterm birth did have an association.
But, they did say that further studies are needed to determine if the periodontitis is the actual
cause.

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The article goes on to say that it still is very important to educate pregnant mothers on the
importance of maintaining their periodontal disease. When babies are born prematurely, there are
many things they are at increased risk for. The article stated some interesting facts about preterm
babies. Preterm delivery is the major cause of neonatal mortality and of nearly one-half of all
serious long-term neurological morbidity. In the United States, approximately 10 percent of
women deliver before term (defined as 37 weeks' gestational age), and preterm deliveries at less
than 32 weeks' gestation constitute 1 to 2 percent of all births. While many studies and actions
have been made in the treatment of babies born prematurely, the incidence of prematurity
continues to rise. I’m excited to continue my education so I can one day help those pregnant
women be more educated on the importance of their oral health for their babies!
There are two main points the authors of this article wanted to emphasis. First,
periodontal disease was present in these patients before the preterm births. The disease didn’t
come because of the pregnancy. They were just stating that periodontal disease has been a pattern
in women with low term babies. Second, is in subjects with severe periodontitis, the odds of
preterm births were greatest for women who gave birth to the most premature babies. So the
studies concluded that it was shown that the risk of experiencing preterm birth increases with
increasing severity of periodontal disease.
This study has one central question. Do we have convincing evidence that the treatment
of periodontal disease will reduce the risk of preterm birth? The article says,no. This was very
sad to me. I wished as I’d gotten to the end of the article that it said that the treatment of
periodontal disease would reduce the risk of preterm birth!
In conclusion, the study provides sufficient evidence that pre-existing periodontal disease
in the second trimester of pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth. As stated earlier, ongoing
studies are addressing the question as to whether preterm births can be reduced by treating the

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mothers periodontal disease.

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Work Cited
Periodontal infection and preterm birth. (2001, July 1). Retrieved June 6, 2016, from
http://jada.ada.org/