behdad imani

Context:

 Epulis gravidarum in pregnancy is a condition usually affecting pregnant women between the 3rd and 9th months of pregnancy.

 Considering the lack of precise statistics about the prevalence of this condition in the Mazandaran province, we set out to conduct a study for examining the frequency of epulis gravidarum among pregnant women in Sari and Ghaemshahr cities in 2020.

Setting and Design: 

In this cross‑sectional investigation, 1800 pregnant women were studied by stratified random sampling method in healthcare centers in Sari and Ghaemshahr in 2020.

 In total, 30 centers were monitored during 2 working months and from each center, about 60 pregnant women were selected. A checklist was designed to record the data, including demographic characteristics as well as the oral health status of the participants. Then, intraoral examination was performed to detect the epulis gravidarum.

Statistical Analysis Used:

 Data were analyzed through descriptive (mean, standard deviation, and frequency) Chi‑square, and Cramer’s V correlation coefficient.

 The prevalence of epulis gravidarum was 4.38% (79 pregnant women). Furthermore, 11.27% of the total participants in the study were women in their 1st to 3rd months of pregnancy; 47.55% in 4th to 6th months, and 41.18% in 7th to 9th months of pregnancy. Based on multivariate logistics analysis, a significant relationship was observed between the use of cigarette smoking (P < 0.001), low age (P = 0.002), and don’t use of floss (P < 0.001) and presence of epulis gravidarum.

 The results indicated that oral and dental health care is very important during pregnancy, and if women observed any atypical lesions during pregnancy in their mouth, they should consult a dentist.