CHANGES IN THE ORAL MICRO-FLORA DURING PREGNANCY AND ITS RELATION WITH THE PERIODONTAL CLINICAL CONDITION – PRELIMINAY RESULTS.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in oral micro-flora and establish the relation between the microbiological changes in saliva and the sub-gingival plaque and periodontal condition during pregnancy.
Methods: 250 pregnant women between 18 and 40 years of age were evaluated during the first, second and third trimester, as well as a post birth group and a non-pregnant group attending dentistry consultation in public hospitals of the northern network in Bogota. Each patient collected a non-stimulated saliva sample and a sub-gingival plaque sample taken after the periodontal clinical evaluation using the community periodontal index – CPI. A comparison among bacterial species for the three trimesters and different periodontal conditions was carried out using the Kruskal-Wallis analysis and U of Mann-Whitney (p < 0.05); a relation of microbiological changes with total bacterial count and between species was done with Spearman’s correlation.
Results: Major changes in the CFU count as well as the species occurred during the first trimester with a gradual diminishing up until after-birth. P.intermedia/nigrescens, Actinomyces spp, P. gingivalis and E. corrodens were the species with higher relation with an increase in micro-organism concentration in the subgingival plaque but no significative differences were observed among the periodontal conditions and microbiological changes. However, bacterial overgrowth was evident in patients with periodontal pockets
Conclusions: Significative microbiological changes were observed in the subgingival flora during the first trimester. This alteration does not seem to be associated with the severity of gingivitis during pregnancy, but may impact the condition of women with periodontitis during pregnancy