Knowledge and Practice of Gynecologists about Oral Hygiene Measures during Pregnancy
Fareed Ahmad, Ali Anwaar, Muhammad Shairaz Sadiq, Alina Saeed, Bilal Abdul Qayum Mirza, Muhammad Afzal
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ABSTRACT
Objective: To evaluate the knowledge and practice of gynecologists with regard to oral and dental health during pregnancy. Design of the Study: It was a cross-sectional study. Study Settings: This study was carried out at Outpatient Department of Dentistry Combined Military Hospital, Lahore from January 2019 to July 2019. Methods & Materials: The questionnaire was distributed among 450 gynaecologists. The evaluation tool was questionnaire. It was consisted on 23 items in which 18 questions were about the knowledge and five questions about the practice. The response of the respondents was received as yes or no. All the collected data entered in software and statistical analysis of data was done using the SPSS version 22.0. For quantitative variables mean and standard deviation were calculated. Qualitative variables were presented in the form of frequency and percentage.
Results: In our study response rate was found to be 84.4%. During pregnancy related to the oral healthcare average of gynaecologist’s knowledge was 12.31±2.73 which showed that they have appropriate knowledge level. During pregnancy related to the oral healthcare measures average of gynaecologist’s knowledge was 3.31 ± 1.256 which exhibited that they have appropriate knowledge level of practices measures. A significant relationship between year of graduation and gynaecologist’s knowledge was observed (P = 0.31), whereas insignificant relationship between graduation year and practice was observed (P = 0.763). During pregnancy related to the need of oral and dental care before & during pregnancy gynaecologist’s knowledge was 3.67 ± 1.035. Conclusion: Gynecologist’s knowledge about oral and dental hygiene measure during the pregnancy was appropriate. Women who are planning their pregnancy must get knowledge from dentist, obstetricians and gynecologists to reduce the rate of complications. Effect of pregnancy on oral and dental hygiene is on the one hand and inhibition from its side effects is on the other hand.
Keywords: Gynecologist, Oral Health, Pregnant women