Is there any association between periodontitis and preterm low birth weight?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the association between periodontitis (PD) and preterm low birth weight (LBW). STUDY DESIGN: Observational study in a University clinical setting on a population of 120 pregnant women. RESULTS: One specialist in periodontics examined all the patients. Two thresholds for definition of PD were used, which detected respectively 29 women (24%) and 4 (3%) as affected by the pathology. Six patients were lost to follow-up. Out of the remaining 114, 1 had an abortion, while 20 (17%) delivered pre-term. Eleven per cent of all women delivered low-weight babies. Ten women (9%) delivered preterm LBW babies. No association was detected between any of the two definitions of PD and any of the adverse pregnancy outcomes. CONCLUSION: This study was unable to provide evidence of association between PD and preterm LBW.