Motherhood and dental disease

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether motherhood is associated with tooth mortality, dental caries or destructive periodontal disease.

Design: An analytical cross-sectional study.

Setting: The Magomeni mother and child health clinic in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Participants: An age stratified total sample consisting of 500 mothers and pregnant women. Outcome measures Loss of a tooth, caries in a tooth or loss of periodontal attachment on a tooth.

Results: Controlling for current age and age at first child birth using multiple logistic regression and fitting cluster-specific models, no association was found between the number of children a woman had and loss of teeth [OR: 0.7-0.8 (95% CI: 0.3, 1.5)]. Nor was there any association with caries [OR: 1.0-1.1 (95% CI: 0.4, 1.9)]. Attachment loss among women having given birth to four or more children was, however more common than among women with fewer children [OR: 1.5-1.7 (95% CI: 1.0, 2.7)].

Conclusions: No evidence supporting the hypothesis that the more children a woman has the more teeth she loses was found. Nor was an association between the number of children and caries found. There may, however, be an association between motherhood and periodontal destruction.