Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of prenatal care practitioners regarding oral health in pregnancy—A systematic review
Beatriz Helena Anunciação, Maria João Azevedo, Maria Lurdes Pereira
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Hormonal and behavioral changes during pregnancy may impact the oral health of women, which can influence the pregnancy course. Prenatal care practitioners (PCP) must be aware of this bidirectional relation in order to include an oral assessment in routine prenatal care. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the knowledge and attitudes of PCP regarding oral health in pregnant women. SEARCH STRATEGY: The search was carried out in PubMed, Web of Science, Lilacs, Scopus, and Embase on May 2022. SELECTION CRITERIA: Peer-reviewed cross-sectional studies published in English within the last 5 years that assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of PCP towards oral health in pregnancy were selected. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were standardly extracted by the three reviewers from the selected articles and their bias was assessed. MAIN RESULTS: From a total of 996 articles, 24 were selected. Overall, most PCP have an adequate level of knowledge regarding the importance of oral health during pregnancy. Although several professionals reported referring their patients to a dentist, the attitudes and practices of the majority of PCP were still inadequate. CONCLUSIONS: PCP are aware of the importance of oral health during pregnancy but still lack translating this knowledge into clinical practice.