Methods: A 13-item questionnaire addressed general dentists' attitude regarding prenatal oral health counseling and its role in their dental practice. The survey was sent out to 800 licensed general dentists in the state of Nebraska. The survey asked for demographic information, type of practice, additional training completed, and patient base. The survey also asked questions about prenatal oral health counseling for pregnant women.
Results: Nearly 50% of general dentists in Nebraska who responded to the survey do not provide any prenatal counseling (45.6%), 5.9% do prenatal counseling once a week, 16.2% do prenatal counseling once a month, and 5.9% provide prenatal counseling only once a year. There were no correlations between providing prenatal counseling and age of general dentists, gender of general dentists, type of practice, and length of time in practice or additional training completed. There were no correlations regarding amount of time scheduled for prenatal counseling sessions and age of general dentists, gender of general dentists, type of practice, or length of time in practice. Practitioners who completed additional training were more likely to schedule more time for prenatal counseling. Four percent charge a fee in the office, 1.1% have a pre-negotiated fee and 43.4% provide prenatal counseling at no charge.
Conclusion: These data indicate that more than 50% of general practitioners do provide prenatal counseling. Practitioners who completed additional training were more likely to schedule more time for prenatal counseling. The most common reason for not providing prenatal counseling was it is not a priority for the office, the parents are not interested, and the absence of an ADA code.