It is not just smokers who face risk of preterm birth but according to a recent study, women who had gum disease took an average of seven months in order to become pregnant and those who had practiced better oral hygiene and who therefore did not have gum disease, took 2 months less on average to get pregnant.

The difficulty with getting pregnant was said to be truer of Caucasian women due to a tendency towards a higher inflammatory response to infection. Their increased risk of a later conception was almost 14% compared to those with healthy oral hygiene at 6%. This was even the case when factors such as age, whether or not the patient smoked, and weight were taken into consideration.

They now suggest that a test for gum disease should be a part of every prenatal check-up. The study was initially carried out in order to see if there was a link between oral health and premature birth and to see if treatment would prevent this from occurring. Premature birth still occurred despite these women receiving treatment for gum disease and this was the case across all ethnicities.

Scientists are still looking at ways in which we can prevent gum disease in women who are of a child bearing age. They are still at least trying to find a way to reduce the number of premature births in the future. Preterm births in Malawi are a huge problem and women are now given alcohol sugar, the same that is used in chewing gum, mints and candy as it is supposed to help fight against gum disease.

The rates of preterm birth here are more than double those in the United States. Preterm birth is defined as a birth at less than 37 weeks. Another recent study showed that out of 1,209, 159 births there were 238,962 who were smokers. Complications with pregnancy were much more common among those who smoked than those who did not smoke. Along with stopping smoking during pregnancy, oral hygiene seems just as important prior to and during the gestational period.