Periodontal disease and Preeclampsia. Literature review

Abstract

Summary: Introduction: Preeclampsia is a
complication of pregnancy that can threaten both the life of the mother as the baby. There are
different etiological factors for the development of preeclampsia, including chronic infections.
Periodontal disease as a chronic infection has recently been associated with the onset of
preeclampsia. Objective: To review the literature with the purpose of determine the possible
association between periodontal disease (PD) and Preeclampsia. Methods and Materials: Database
search of scientific publications in order to review studies reported from 1996 to 2007 to assess
the possible association between PD and Preeclampsia. Results: There were evaluated designs and
results of 11 scientific articles. Conclusions: This review concluded that there are very few
studies to evaluate the presence of PD and the incidence of preeclampsia. The evaluated studies show
conflicting results which may be due to the different designs of the studies, lack of unification
among inclusion criteria between them, lack of standardization in diagnostics criteria for PD, and
the sample size is very different depending on the type of study. More intervention studies are
needed to demonstrate that controlling or eliminating PD, the previously described complications of
pregnancy are minimized, in order to affirm or refute these possible associations. Key words:
Periodontal disease. Preeclampsia. Preterm birth. Risk factors.