And the health of her offspring.

University of North Carolina

Mothers who suffer from gum disease are significantly more likely to deliver their babies prematurely than women without that illness, which also is known as periodontal disease, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows. Such women also are more likely than others to deliver babies whose weight is less than normal.

Offenbacher, director of the Center for Oral and Systemic Diseases, presented his group’s findings in San Diego at the annual meeting of International Association for Dental Research. In the five-year study, researchers evaluated periodontal disease in more than 850 women before and after they gave birth and divided the women into groups representing healthy gums, mild disease and moderate-to-severe disease.

They then adjusted for risk factors affecting birth timing and weight such as age, race, food stamp eligibility, marital status, previous pre-term births, smoking and other health problems.

“This prospective study confirms our earlier case-control studies showing that both periodontal disease and periodontal disease progression during pregnancy have an effect on the fetus,” Offenbacher said. “It increases the risk of pre-term delivery two-fold or greater depending on whether there is fetal exposure during pregnancy. This is complemented with new information suggesting that some organisms from mothers’ periodontal tissues actually get in the bloodstream and target the fetus.”

In other words, he said, babies developing in women’s wombs are being adversely affected by germs growing in their mothers’ mouths such that they are born early or at lower than normal weight. Scientists find antibodies to specific organisms in placental blood at the time of delivery. “One in 10 babies in the United States is born too small or too early, which is a major cause of sickness and mortality,” Offenbacher said.

Gum disease may be responsible for up to 18 percent of pre-term deliveries, as the study suggests. The gum disease’s effect appears to be as strong as smoking or alcohol abuse. The fact that there are specific organisms that can cause growth and delivery problems, opens up a new avenue for preventive care.

New research is under way to determine if treating pregnant women’s gum disease cuts their risk of pre-term delivery.

Speaking

Make a report on the microbiological basis of dental health.

Agree or disagree with the following statements. Prove your point of view with the facts presented in the texts of the Unit.

1.Streptococci are numerically dominant in the flora of the mouth cavity.

2.Bacteria produce plaqueby adherence tothe floor of the mouth.

3. Researchers have already specified the microorganisms causing most of the oral diseases.

4.Bacteria from gum diseases are not linked to chronic diseases.

5.Gum disease of a pregnant woman may be responsible for pre-term delivery or low weight of her child at birth.

Unit X. Hygiene of the oral cavity and preventive dentistry

Lead-in

Hardly there is anyone who doubts the role of oral hygiene and preventive dentistry in oral health maintenance. Still there may be some questions which are not quite clear for an ordinary person. A dentist is to explain the importance of oral hygiene to the patient and to clarify the ideas of preventive dentistry. How often do you get instructions on oral hygiene from your dentist? Does he/she emphasize its role? What information on the preventive measures does an average dental patient lack?

Reading

Preventive dentistry

Preventive dentistry consists of the various educational procedures, used by dentists, dental hygienists, physicians, nurses, teachers and others to develop scientific oral health knowledge. It is aimed at preventing the improper oral cavity functioning and harmful habits. The procedures utilized include effective and scientifically correct educational measures or specific preventive techniques, such as the topical application of sodium fluoride to teeth, the addition of fluoride to public water supplies, proper toothbrushing, proper diet, the interference with oral habits and the prevention of accidents to teeth.

The objectives of preventive dentistry, in the broader sense, are to prevent:

† factors which predispose to disease or disorder;

† the disease itself;

† factors which evoke severe manifestations of acute disease;

† factors which tend to maintain disease in a chronic stage;

† factors which permit the progressive advance of disease;

† the complications of disease, both local and systemic, including death;

† factors which tend to maintain disability resulting from disease;

† factors which interfere with rehabilitation.

Preventive dentistry should be taught as philosophy, in all phases of the curriculum. It should be a joint responsibility of all departments of the dental school. The teaching of preventive dentistry should emphasize the various levels of prevention, including:

† measures to promote positive oral and general health, such as improved nutrition and mouth hygiene;

† the application of specific preventive measures, such as fluoridation;

† early diagnosis and treatment, as for neoplasms;

† measures to interrupt or delay the progress of disease, and to limit disability;

† measures which will contribute to rehabilitation, such as orthodontics, prosthetic services, oral surgery and esthetical dentistry.

Grammar

Revision of the Tense forms.