Gum Disease Linked To Higher Premature Birth Rates

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Dental News
The International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, BJOG, reported that a strong link has been found between successful gum disease treatment and the likelihood of giving birth prematurely.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Dental that women with untreated gum disease were roughly 8 times more likely to have a premature baby than those women who received successfully treated for gum disease via scaling and root planning (cleaning above and below the gum-line). However, the study's results also suggest that pregnant women who were resistant to scaling and root planning were significantly more likely to deliver preterm babies than those where it was successful.

"Our research group is very excited about these results. First these data show that pregnant women can receive periodontal treatment safely in order to improve their oral health. Second in a high risk group of pregnant women, such as those patients who participated in this study, successful periodontal treatment, when rendered as an adjunct to conventional obstetric care, may reduce the incidence of preterm birth." said Marjorie Jeffcoat, Professor of Periodontology at the University of Pennsylvania and lead author of the report.

Professor Philip Steer, BJOG editor-in-chief, said: "This new study shows a strong link between unsuccessful gum disease treatment and preterm birth. However, we need to bear in mind that 69% of women failed to respond to the dental treatment given. Therefore more effective treatment will need to be devised before we can be sure that successful treatment improves outcome, rather than simply being a marker of pregnancies with a lower background level of inflammation that will go to term anyway."

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