Periodontal screeening and recording in pregnant and nursing women

Abstract

The aims of this study were to assess the periodontal con- ditions found in pregnant and nursing women, using the PSR, and compare them to the ones of non-pregnant/nursing females in a municipal health center in Araraquara/SP/Brazil. The index was applied to 40 pregnant and 40 nursing women aging 15 to 36 ye- ars, and to 40 non-pregnant/nur- sing women aging 15 to 48 years. A probe, especially recommended for this examination (WHO 621), was used and codes 0 – 4 (which identify bleeding, calculus and pe- riodontal pockets) were attributed to each sextant, each of them, in its turn, associated or not to an asterisk (*), indicating presence of recession, furcation exposure, mo- bility or mucogingival alterations. PSR code 2 showed the highest percentage for pregnant and nur- sing women in all age groups. The highest percentage found in the non-pregnant/nursing group cor- responded equally to codes 2 and 3 (37.5% each) for the 15-24 age group, while the highest percenta- ge among the 37-48 year-olds was code * (64.3%). The unfavorable periodontal conditions increased with the age of the non-pregnant/ nursing group. Periodontal con- ditions of pregnant women were better than those of nursing mo- thers, while periodontal condi- tions of the non-pregnant/nursing group worsened with the advance of age. Further studies involving pregnant/nursing subjects should be carried out in order to shed li- ght on the reality of this popula- tional group. Key words: pregnancy, lactation, periodontics.