Oral Health Information Acquisition and Care Seeking During Pregnancy

Abstract

Objectives: This qualitative study aimed to understand pregnant women's concern for oral health, access to oral health information, and their decision making on dental visit.

Methods: Thirty pregnant women during their third trimester of the gestation period were recruited. Semi-structured interviews were conducted following the topic guide on oral health problems they encountered during pregnancy, the ways they deal with these problems, access to oral health information and dental visit. All the interviews were audio taped, transcribed verbatim and subjected to content analysis.

Results: Despite experiencing some oral problems (bleeding, bad breath, tooth sensitivity, etc.) during pregnancy, some expectant mothers chose to solve problems by themselves rather than seeing a dentist or decided to see dentist after baby delivery. The reasons for not making a dental visit included: their quality of life were not affected, believing that they could not receive dental check-up during pregnancy and dental treatment would affect fetal health. Physical weakness, focus on other issues during pregnancy, concern of discomfort caused by dental treatment, difficulty in finding a suitable dentist and time constraint also affected their decision. Pregnant women acquired information on oral health during pregnancy from different ways: websites, other expectant mothers or family members, maternal health talks or public lectures. Information from medical healthcare providers was very limited. They suggested effective ways to receive information could be referral, hotline, materials distribution. They preferred oral health education becoming an essential part of regular prenatal checkup and would be better to be delivered at the early stage of pregnancy.

Conclusions: Pregnant women were exposed to oral health information of varying quality. They were interested to receive oral health information during pregnancy. This study provided insightful information and implications for future oral health education strategies for pregnant women.