A survey done in Fiji shows that many pregnant women in the country have dental problems which also results in women having pre-mature babies.
The survey done at the Colonial War Memorial and Lautoka Hospital on 670 pregnant women, shows that the reasons given for premature births were medical conditions, smoking, alcohol consumption, maternal age and history, in pre mature birth.
The survey shows that out of the 670 women, 50% had moderate to severe dental problems compared with 13% who had normal delivery.
According to the survey, more Indo Fijians had pre-mature births and rural women with pre-term babies have more severe dental disease.
The Lecturer of the Dental Public Health, Doctor Bernadette Pushpaan-jali is calling on all pregnant mothers to take great care of their teeth and have it checked regularly to avoid problems later in life.
