Cárie dentária em mulheres no pós-parto imediato: aspectos de interesse

Abstract

Untreated oral disease may compromise the health of the pregnant woman and her baby. Thus, studies aimed at understanding all the factors that influence the prevalence of tooth decay in pregnant women, as well as the reflection of the disease in pregnancy, are essential for planning strategies of health promotion and prevention in oral health. This Thesis studied aspects related to dental caries in women in the immediate postpartum period, based on data from the Multicenter Geravida Project, giving rise to two original articles. The first item is listed in Chapter I of this work and it is entitled: "Hyperglycemia and factors associated with dental caries during pregnancy." The objective of this work was to study, retrospectively, in women in the immediate postpartum period, the factors associated with dental caries in pregnancy, and verify if mothers with hyperglycemia have more tooth decay than those with normal blood glucose. The sample included 297 women. Caries was recorded as present when a lesion of fossa, fissure or smooth surface had an obvious cavity, undermined enamel, or a detectable softening of the floor or walls. The restored teeth that had one or more areas with carious lesions were considered decayed. It was recorded also the restored teeth without decay and lost by decay. The oral biofilm was assessed by visible plaque index, and blood glucose by HbA1c through test. Socioeconomic characteristics of harmful habits and oral health were obtained through structured questionnaires. Women also records the information was collected.The results showed that more than half of mothers (66%) had caries and that is not associated with hyperglycemia in pregnancy (p = 0.386). The model of hierarchical logistic regression showed that the variables maternal education ≤ 8 years of schooling (adjusted OR = 2.40 [CI 1.19 to 4.82]), have previous children (adjusted OR = 1.81 [CI 1, 08-3.03), flossing (adjusted OR = 048 [CI 0.27 to 0.86]) and visible plaque index ≥ 30% (adjusted OR = 1.83 [CI 1.05 to 3, 20]) are associated with the presence of caries in pregnancy. The second work is listed in Chapter II and is entitled, "Maternal dental caries: there is an association with prematurity?" and it aimed to investigate the relationship between dental caries and prematurity. The sample consisted of 279 women in the postpartum, and 91 had premature births and 188 births at term, respecting the proportionality of 1 case 2 controls. Data were collected through questionnaires, information from medical records and intra-oral clinical examination, which covered the dental caries record according to the WHO criteria and visible plaque indexThe results of this study showed that tooth decay is not associated with prematurity (OR = 1.08, p = 0.90). The presence of caries was identified in 62.3% of women with a positive outcome and 62.5% of women with a negative outcome. In addition, this study examined other factors associated with preterm birth, finding that prematurity is associated with maternal education (OR = 2.56, p = 0.010), low birth weight (OR = 12.18 p ˂ 0.001) and hypertension (OR = 2.32, p = 0.019). The results of this Thesis call attention to the high prevalence of tooth decay in pregnant women and the need to understand the factors that influence the mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon.