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

Aìm. The relatìonship between periodontal disease and preterm labour has been target of several studies with contrasting findings. The aim ofthis study is to verify thè associatìon 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 defìned as women admitted with a diagnosi» of TPL before thè 37th week; controls were defìned as women with terni labour (>37 weeks) in thè same ward. Primary exposure was defined as thè presence of at least one tooth with probing depth (PD) >6 mm andBOP+. Average pocket depth, full-mouth bleeding on probing (FMBS) and thè presence of plaque (FMPS) were also investigated. Matched univariate (McNemar's test and Wilcoxon signed ranktest) 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 shallowpockets. 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 thè cases and 50.7% in thè 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 he no association between threatened preterm labour and periodontal disease.