Is there any association between periodontitis and preterm low birth weight?

Abstract

Objective. To estimate the association between periodontitis (PD) and preterm low birth weight (LBW).

Study design. Observational study in a University clinical setting on a population of 120 pregnant women.

Results. One specialist in periodontics examined all the patients. Two thresholds for definition of PD were used, which detected respectively 29 women (24%) and 4 (3%) as affected by the pathology. Six patients were lost to follow-up. Out of the remaining 114, 1 had an abortion, while 20 (17%) delivered pre-term. Eleven per cent of all women delivered low-weight babies. Ten women (9%) delivered preterm LBW babies. No association was detected between any of the two definitions of PD and any of the adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Conclusion. This study was unable to provide evidence of association between PD and preterm LBW.

Keywords:

• Periodontitis
• preterm birth
• preterm low birth weight
• low birth weight

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.