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Introduction: Pregnancy and oral health have garnered much interest in recent times. Evidence suggests
that poor maternal oral health may represent potential source of microorganisms that routinely enter the
circulation, and affect the health of foetus as well as mother. Studies also show poor oral hygiene to be linked
with pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, premature birth and low birth weight.
Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the awareness of maternal oral health and pregnancy
association among the antenatal care providers.
Materials and Method: The study was carried out among 190 antenatal care providers (obstetricians
and gynaecologists, general practitioners, internists and medical officers) registered at Nepal Medical
Council (NMC). The questionnaire survey items were derived from previous studies. The data was entered
in Microsoft Excel and analysed using SPSS version 17.0. The level of significance was set at 0.05 and
confidence interval at 95%.
Result: The age of the participants (Male 126, 66.3%; Female 64, 33.7%) varied from 26 years to 61 years
(31.79 ± 6.09). The knowledge of the effect of poor health on adverse pregnancy outcomes was found to be
statistically significant (p=0.041) with 40 (21.1%) OBGYN participants answering correctly compared to
other antenatal care providers.
Conclusion: The obstetricians and gynaecologists had better understanding of poor oral health affecting
pregnancy outcomes adversely compared to other antenatal care providers.

Antenatal care providers; oral health; pregnancy; questionnaire.