Survey of oral health knowledge and behavior of pregnant minority adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
This study's purpose was to compare dental visits and oral health knowledge of African American (AA) and Hispanic American (HA) pregnant adolescents in a community health clinic.


METHODS
Demographics, oral health knowledge, oral hygiene, and dental visits during pregnoncy were surveyed by anonymous questionnaire to adolescents who were pregnant at the time of the study or within the last year.


RESULTS
Responses from 50 AA and 61 HA adolescents between 12 and 20 years old were analyzed. Fourteen percent of AAs and 26 percent of HAs saw a dentist during pregnancy, while 26 percent of AAs and 16 percent of HAs reported regular 6-month visits when not pregnant. Fifty-two percent of AAs and 43 percent of HAs knew that oral health problems could affect the pregnancy or growth of the baby. Thirty-four percent of AAs and 56 percent of HAs knew that pregnancy was related to gum problems (P = .02). Logistic regression revealed the predictors of a dental visit during pregnancy, including living with a boyfriend/husband (P = .02, odds ratio = 4.4, confidence interval = 13-153) and dental visits when not pregnant (P < .001, OR = 13.6, CI = 3.7-50.5).


CONCLUSIONS
Minority pregnant adolescents had only limited dental visits whether or not they were pregnant and possessed limited knowledge of oral health and pregnancy outcomes.
Fadavi
Shahrbanoo
S
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Illinois, Chicago, USA. SFADAVI@uic.edu
Sevandal
Maureen C
MC
Koerber
Anne
A
Punwani
Indru
I
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American; D002648:Child; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D009909:Oral Health; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult