Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2009 Apr;36(4):308-14.
doi: 10.1111/j.1600-051X.2009.01385.x. Epub 2009 Mar 11.

Change in periodontitis during pregnancy and the risk of pre-term birth and low birthweight

Bryan S Michalowicz  1 , James S Hodges, Michael John Novak, William Buchanan, Anthony J DiAngelis, Panos N Papapanou, Dennis A Mitchell, James E Ferguson, Virginia R Lupo, James Bofill, Stephen Matseoane
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Change in periodontitis during pregnancy and the risk of pre-term birth and low birthweight

Bryan S Michalowicz et al. J Clin Periodontol. 2009 Apr.

Abstract

Aim: Determine whether periodontitis progression during pregnancy is associated with adverse birth outcomes.

Methods: We used clinical data and birth outcomes from the Obstetrics and Periodontal Therapy Study, in which randomly selected women received periodontal treatment before 21 weeks of gestation (N=413) or after delivery (410). Birth outcomes were available for 812 women and follow-up periodontal data for 722, including 75 whose pregnancies ended <37 weeks. Periodontitis progression was defined as >or=3 mm loss of clinical attachment. Birth outcomes were compared between non-progressing and progressing groups using the log rank and t tests, separately in all women and in untreated controls.

Results: The distribution of gestational age at the end of pregnancy (p>0.1) and mean birthweight (3295 versus 3184 g, p=0.11) did not differ significantly between women with and without disease progression. Gestational age and birthweight were not associated with change from baseline in percentage of tooth sites with bleeding on probing or between those who did versus did not progress according to a published definition of disease progression (p>0.05).

Conclusions: In these women with periodontitis and within this study's limitations, disease progression was not associated with an increased risk for delivering a pre-term or a low birthweight infant.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors do not claim any conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of gestational age at end of pregnancy in all women, by disease progression defined as an increase in attachment loss ≥ 3mm. The red and green lines show cumulative fraction of pregnancies ended for each gestational age; the red line is for women who had no progressing sites after baseline, the green line is for women who had at least one progressing site (P = 0.31).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Gestational age at the end of pregnancy for all women, by disease progression according to Offenbacher et al. (2006). The red and blue lines show cumulative fraction of pregnancies ended for each gestational age; the red line is for women who did not progress, the blue line is for women who did progress (P = 0.54).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aurer A, Aurer-Kozelj J, Stavljenic-Rukavina A, Kalenic S, Ivic-Kardum M, Haban V. Inflammatory mediators in saliva of patients with rapidly progressive periodontitis during war stress induced incidence increase. Collegium Antropologicum. 1999;23:117–124. - PubMed
    1. Carey JC, Klebanoff MA, Hauth JC, Hillier SL, Thom EA, Ernest JM, Heine RP, Nugent RP, Fischer ML, Leveno KJ, Wapner R, Varner M. Metronidazole to prevent preterm delivery in pregnant women with asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis. national institute of child health and human development network of maternal-fetal medicine units. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2000;342:534–540. - PubMed
    1. Davenport ES, Williams CE, Sterne JA, Murad S, Sivapathasundram V, Curtis MA. Maternal periodontal disease and preterm low birthweight: Case-control study. Journal of Dental Research. 2002;81:313–318. - PubMed
    1. Goffinet F. Primary predictors of preterm labour. BJOG : An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 2005;112 Suppl 1:38–47. - PubMed
    1. Goldenberg RL, Culhane JF. Preterm birth and periodontal disease. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2006;355:1925–1927. - PubMed

Publication types