Association between threatened pre-term labour and periodontal disease: does a relationship exist? A matched case-control study.

AIM: The relationship between periodontal disease and preterm labour has been target of several studies with contrasting findings. The aim of this study is to verify the association between periodontal diseases in pregnant women and threatened preterm labour (TPL).

METHODS

Two hundred and twenty pregnant women were enrolled in a matched prospective case-control study. Matching factors were age, parity and date of admission. Cases were defined as women admitted with a diagnosis of TPL before the 37th week; controls were defined as women with term labour (= or > 37 weeks) in the same ward. Primary exposure was defined as the presence of at least one tooth with probing depth (PD) >6 mm and BOP+. Average pocket depth, full-mouth bleeding on probing (FMBS) and the presence of plaque (FMPS) were also investigated. Matched univariate (McNemar's test and Wilcoxon signed rank test) and multivariate (conditional logistic regression model) analyses were performed.

RESULTS

At least one PD >6 mm BOP+ was found in 30 TPL cases (27.3%) and 37 controls (33.6%), without significant difference (P=0.27). There was also no difference was found in shallow pockets. The average pocket depth was similar in TPL cases (2.67 mm) and controls (2.78 mm) (P=0.29). The average FMPS was 56.4% in the cases and 50.7% in the controls, while FMPS was 36.5% and 39.6%, respectively, though these differences are not statistically significant (P=0.26 and P=0.42, respectively).

CONCLUSION

From our study, there seems to be no association between threatened pre-term labour and periodontal disease.