Abstract
This report describes results of a survey of 147 pregnant women who attended the “latter class”lecture for pregnant women in late pregnancy. To investigate changes in the oral health awareness of pregnant women for both their unborn baby and themselves, the responses were compared with those obtained for the second report of pregnant women from beginning to middle pregnancy. We also examined whether the prenatal class lecture was attended by the pregnant women from the beginning to middle of pregnancy.In this third report, there were more responses of “no problem” about “the state of current toothbrushing” and “yes” to “(having) a family dentist” than in the second report. Furthermore, pregnant women who attended the prenatal class gave more “yes” responses to “(having) a family dentist”.Responses of “how to brush teeth” to the question regarding “care for the oral health of your unborn baby” increased as compared to the second report. Our results indicate that pregnant women came to consider infant care and became more conscious of tooth-brushing for their baby as delivery approached. In addition, information about oral health obtained in the prenatal class lecture affected the results.As for “the relationships of periodontitis, smoking, and drinking with premature birth and low-birth weight infants” and “mother-to-child transmission of cariogenic bacteria”, responses of “know” were increased, with pregnant women who had attended the prenatal class providing more “know” responses.Together, our findings suggest that awareness of oral health and child care can change during pregnancy and as a result of attending a prenatal class attendance. Oral health support and guidance must be given to pregnant women in an appropriate manner during pregnancy. Moreover, necessary information from dentists must be obtained at various opportunities.
