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Does Treatment of Periodontal Disease Improve Birth Outcomes? The Bottom Line

Pregnancy and Women’s Oral Health Effects of Periodontal Disease on Pregnancy Does Treatment of Periodontal Disease Improve Birth Outcomes? The Bottom Line

The following table summarizes the current medical literature on this subject. Studies are inconsistent in regard to treatment of periodontitis and pregnancy outcomes, partly due to heterogeneity of studies. However, studies demonstrate that periodontitis improved with treatment and that treatment is safe during pregnancy.

Meta-analysis and Systematic Reviews

Studies vary in population, definition of periodontal disease, treatment and follow up.
Experimental groups received a variety of treatments including SRP (scaling and root planing - deep cleaning for periodontitis) alone, and SRP combined with other treatments such as antibiotics and mouth rinses
Treatment of periodontitis during pregnancy may reduce risk of preterm birth (PTB) and low birth weight, but there is a lack of consistency in outcomes among studies of high quality and low risk for bias.
It is possible that SRP + chlorhexidine mouth rinses may reduce risk of PTB. Antibiotics may offer benefit, but may also reduce risk of PTB by treating maternal infections that increase risk of PTB.

Study	Study Type	Participants	Outcomes
Polyzos et al, 2009	MA of 7 RCTs	Case 1491 Control 1172	Tx produced: Lower PTB OR 0.55 (p=0.008) Lower LBW OR 0.48 (p=0.049)
Offenbacher et al, 2008	RCT	Case 903 Control 903	No difference in PTB, LBW
Srinivas et al, 2009	RCT	Case 311 Control 425	No difference in PTB, IUGR, Preeclampsia
Newnham et al, 2009	RCT	Case 542 Control 540	No difference in PTB
Cochrane 2017	MA of 15 RCTs	7161 participants	No difference in PTB, Preeclampsia, or Perinatal Mortality; Lower LBW <2500g in subset of 7 studies, RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.48-0.95
Arbildo-Vega et al, 2024	Systematic review of 24 studies	24 SR and MA studies	Mixed results with a majority of studies supporting reduced risk of PTB and LBW with periodontal treatment
Thomas et al 2025	Systematic Review of 14 studies	14 RCTs	15% reduction in PTB for those who received periodontal treatment in pregnancy compared with no treatment (RR 0.85; 95% CI 0.71-1.02)

Definitions: PTB = Preterm Birth, LBW= Low Birth Weight, OR = Odds Ratio, CI=Confidence Intervals, RR = Relative Risk,

RCT = Randomized Controlled Trial, MA = Meta-analysis

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