Periodontal disease in prenant women and preterm and/or low weight births

Abstract

The birth of preterm (under 37 weeks of gestational age) and low weight infants (under 2.55g) is related to the elevated mortality rate in the postnatal period. Besides the significant effect on the infant mortality rate, there is increasing evidence linked to these births and other health problems that may unable a child totally or partially for the rest of his/her life. In the last years, the hypothesis that periodontal disease (PD) is related to preterm and/or low weight births has received considerable attention. According to this hypothesis, the objective of this study was to assess, in literature, if there is evidence for the association between PD in pregnant women and adverse results on the development and closing of the gestational period and possible mechanisms involved in this association. The revised studies seem to indicate that there is evidence of an association between PD in pregnant women and an increasing risk for preterm and/or low weight births. The biological reasoning for association is based on induction, periodontal pathogens, production of inflammatory mediators (prostaglandins and interleukins) able to take to labor and affect fetal development long distance. Controlled intervention studies are necessary to clear the association between the disease and adverse results during gestation and establish the beneficial potential of periodontal treatment at reducing these births. New studies could, still, investigate the local and systemic factors that may predispose the pregnant women to the establishment and/or severity of PD as well as evaluate the impact of preterm and/or low weight births of their infants.