Faiza Abdul Sattar, Ali Hussain Khan.
Prenatal Oral Health Care and Dental service Utilization by Pregnant Women: a Survey in Four Maternity Centers of Gulshan Town, District East, Karachi.
J Pak Dent Assoc Jan ;29(2):60-5.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate self-reported oral health status, investigate the factors responsible for lack of pregnant women utilization of dental services and assess their vulnerability todevelop of oral diseases. METHODOLOGY: In this cross-sectional study, 183 pregnant women were recruited by systemic sampling technique from four maternity centers of Karachi. The study participants filled out structured questionnaires, followed by oral examination. For data analysischi-square and binary logistic regression were used with the help of SPSS version 21. RESULTS: The age and monthly income of pregnant women showed statistically significant relationship with self-reported oral health status (p<0.05), whereas level of education showed statistically significant relationship with dental service utilization (p<0.05).Most common symptoms were dentine hyper-sensitivity (38.2%), dental caries (12.5%), halitosis (31.1%) and pain (20.7%). CONCLUSION: Financial barriers and training were found to be the primary factors for lack of utilization of dental services.

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