According to the September 19th 2006, Wall Street Journal, dentists are providing valuable pre-natal care to pregnant women, offering them additional deep cleanings known as scaling and root planing. The reason is that several studies have proven a link between periodontal disease and premature delivery. For pregnant women who do not need scaling and root planing, an additional regular cleaning (over the usual two a year) is recommended. These women would receive a cleaning every four months, for example, rather than every six months.

Patients who receive regular tooth cleanings may have better overall health than patients who do not, according to the latest scientific research. The evidence is so striking that, according to The Wall Street Journal, several health plans have taken notice and decided to cover tooth cleanings as part of their overall medical package in the expectation that there will be a decrease in the incidence of premature deliveries and low birth weight.

M.P. McQueen writes in The Wall Street Journal that one dental plan recently began offering coverage of antimicrobial mouthwashes for pregnant women. The same plan conducted pilot programs designed to urge pregnant women and people with chronic disease to visit a dentist.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a recent study of pregnant women with serious gum disease found that early treatment with scaling and root planing (which removes plaque and tartar from around tooth roots) reduced preterm births by 84 percent. The study, originally published in the Journal of Periodontology confirmed in a large scale what dentists and obstetricians have noticed for years and discovered in smaller studies.

Gingivitis is the earliest stage, and milder form, of periodontal disease but even this type is harmful to pregnant women and has been linked to premature births. Researchers in Santiago, Chile, examined 870 women with gingivitis, aged 18 to 42 years, and found that periodontal treatment significantly reduced the pre-term/low-birth weight rate (Journal of Periodontology, Nov 2005). The women were randomly assigned to receive periodontal treatment consisting of plaque control, scaling, and daily rinsing with chlorhexidine before 28 weeks of gestation or after delivery. The results demonstrated that those who received treatment before 28 weeks of gestation had a significantly lower incidence of pre-term/low-birth weight than women who did not. The researchers concluded that pregnancy-associated gingivitis appeared to be an independent risk factor and afforded more than a two-fold increase in the risk for pre-term/low-birth weight.

If a pregnant woman has periodontitis, a more advanced form of gum disease and worse than gingivitis, they are more prone to pre-term/low-birth weight pregnancies, sepsis, having a baby with a lower Apgar score, and elevated temperature of the baby. This problem crosses all socio-economic lines.