Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards Oral Health among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care at Siriraj Hospital
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Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate knowledge, attitude, and practice towards oral health of pregnant women, and to compare characteristics between women with different levels of oral health knowledge.
Materials and Methods: A total of 304 low-risk pregnant women, before 20 weeks of gestation, were randomly selected to complete a self-administered questionnaire during their first antenatal care visit. The questionnaire consisted of 4 parts, including baseline characteristics, knowledge, attitude, and questions about personal practice and related information received. Women were further categorized into having lower, medium, and higher knowledge level according to knowledge score tertiles. Various characteristics were compared between the 3 groups.
Results: Overall knowledge score was 7.5 out of 15. Majority of women reported correct answers about oral health care during pregnancy (58.9%-98.4%). Fewer women reported correct answers on relationship between oral health and pregnancy (26.6%-66.1%). Only 14.1% and 15.5% reported that oral and dental surgeries and local anesthetics were safe. Women had misconceptions on many issues including swollen gum, loose tooth, and dental treatments. More than half of the women (56.3%) had ever received information on oral and dental health during pregnancy and 54.9% reported to receive information from medical personnel. Women with higher knowledge scores were more likely to have higher education and income, have dental visits before pregnancy, and receive information from health care personnel.
Conclusion: Pregnant women had relatively limited knowledge on some issues of oral health during pregnancy. Higher level of knowledge was related to higher education and income.
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