Factors Associated with Receipt of Pre-pregnancy Preventive Dental Care Among Women in West Virginia: Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) Survey 2009-2010

Purpose: To examine the association between sociodemographic, economic and health-related lifestyle factors and receipt of pre-pregnancy dental cleaning in West Virginia. Materials and Methods: A population-based secondary data analysis was conducted using the 2009-2010 West Virginia Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) dataset. The study population consisted of 3050 women who answered the survey question about pre-pregnancy dental cleaning. Results: Approximately 47% of the participants visited a dentist during the 12 months before pregnancy. Results from the logistic regression model showed that pre-pregnant Non-Hispanic white women were more likely to get their teeth cleaned compared to women from other racial/ethnic backgrounds (OR = 1.75; 95% CI: 1.01-3.04). Women with more than a high-school education (OR = 1.79; 95% CI: 1.22-2.62), young women 20 years of age (OR = 2.75; 95% CI: 1.86-4.06), women with private health insurance (OR = 2.65; 95% CI: 1.98-3.55) and women who had intended pregnancy (OR = 1.3; 95% CI: 1.04-1.64) were more likely to have dental cleaning before pregnancy compared to women with less than a high-school education, women between the ages of 20-29, uninsured women and women who had unintended pregnancy, respectively. Conclusion: Identifying factors associated with dental cleaning can aid healthcare providers and policy makers in developing approaches to promoting oral care among women of childbearing age. Keywords: dental, pregnancy, tooth cleaning, PRAMS, West Virginia