Impact of Chronic Periodontitis on Intrauterine Growth of the Fetus: An Original Research

J Pharm Bioallied Sci. 2022 Jul;14(Suppl 1):S280-S282. doi: 10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_731_21. Epub 2022 Jul 13.

Abstract

Introduction: The human body goes through a roller coaster of hormonal changes during pregnancy. The periodontal pathologies may alter and may bring about different/altered responses to normal stimuli. Hence, in our study, we assessed the relation between the chronic periodontitis and its impact on the intrauterine growth of the fetus.

Material and method: We conducted a retrospective observational study, where the data was collected from the institutional records. We included 200 pregnant subjects and grouped them equally as those with and without periodontal pathologies. We compared the groups for various parameters of the subject and the new born, and measured the significance deliberating P < 0.05 as significant.

Results: We observed that among the various clinical parameters, the female subjects were exponentially prone to "vulvo-vaginitis, premature rupture of membranes" and the new born had restricted growth.

Conclusion: Oral health affects the general health. The periodontal disease specifically has an adverse impact among pregnant women. Hence care should be given to oral hygiene maintenance.

Keywords: Chronic periodontitis; fetus; intrauterine life; pregnancy.