Having had three children, I can’t imagine doing anything that could possibly jeopardize my baby being healthy. Seeing the dentist and having your teeth cleaned can help you have a healthy mouth and healthy baby. I just reread an article on pregnant women with periodontal disease (gum and bone disease) having a 7.5 percent higher chance of delivering low birth weight premature babies. As a dentist I find this hard to accept. Every prenatal book from What to Expect When You’re Expecting to The American Academy of Pediatrics stressed the need for good oral hygiene and prenatal dental care. To potentially increase your chances of delivering anything other than a healthy baby is an unfounded risk on par with smoking, drinking alcohol, or taking drugs. Unlike these other risk factors gum disease is easily identified and treated.
The study I was reading estimated that periodontal disease may be responsible for as many as 20 percent of the 250,000 premature births of babies weighing less than 5.5 pounds in the United States each year. They also estimated that treatment of periodontal disease by scaling and periodontal therapy in a dental office could reduce this figure by approximately 50,000 each year at a savings of almost $1 billion in intensive neonatal care.
The bacteria causing periodontal disease don’t directly attack the fetus, instead the bacterium slows fetal growth by releasing toxins into the mother’s bloodstream that reach the placenta and interfere with fetal development. The infection also causes the mother’s immune system to produce inflammatory chemicals similar to those which induce abortion, causing the cervix to dilate and the uterus to contract. The wonderful point of this research is that as gum disease is easily diagnosed and treated it is very likely we can decrease this as a risk factor and save prospective parents the heartache that goes along with premature babies and their associated medical problems.
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