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Effect of pregnancy on periodontal and oral health

6 mins read Oral health and mouth cancer
Pregnancy provides an opportunity for education on the role of oral health for both the mother and her unborn child. Advice given at this time can be extremely effective when tailored to the individual and focussed on healthy outcomes for both mother and child

As tough as the current economic environment is, the UK continues to add to its population. Numbers of live births have risen substantially in England over the past decade, from just over 600 000 births in 2000 to 700 000 in 2009. Rates rose by 2.4%, from just over 706 248 in 2009 to 723 165 in 2010 (Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2011).

Pregnancy is probably equally as responsible for the amount of statistics that smoking produces, but statistics do give us an idea of trends in a given area as well as the size of the ‘issue’. Dental practices see and treat pregnant patients every day – knowingly and unknowingly in some cases. Having some idea of the statistics involved helps keep the size of this patient group in perspective and allow us to develop appropriate, tailored support programmes for the oral health care of this group. Those statistics are:

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