Pregnancy and oral health: utilization of the oral health care system by pregnant women in North Dakota.

There is little data on the oral health of pregnant women in North Dakota. In response, the Dental Program of the North Dakota Department of Health included two oral health questions on a survey sent to 2,250 new mothers in the state. The oral health questions were designed to gather information on the proportion of pregnant women using the oral health care system and to identify major barriers to receiving oral health care services. The survey response rate was 65 percent. Just under half of the women responding (43.2%) had visited the dentist during their pregnancy. The major reason cited for not visiting the dentist was that they were not having any problems. There appears to be a lack of knowledge regarding the need for this particular aspect of prenatal care.