Pregnancy and Puberty

Gum disease causes in women are linked to specific periods of their lives--times of bodily change and maturity such as puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause.

Gum disease and pregnancy or menstrual changes go hand in hand as the female body experiences hormonal alterations. Hormonal changes affect tissues of a woman's body such as her gums which often become tender and hypersensitive thus susceptible to periodontal disease.

Moreover, recent research indicates that pregnant women with gum disease are seven times more likely to deliver premature, low birth weight babies.

At the American Academy of Periodontology's Specialty Conference on Periodontal Medicine on May 7, 2000 in Washington, D.C. researches indicated that the more of the mouth affected with periodontal disease, the more prone a woman is to deliver a preterm baby, according to a continuing study of more than 2,000 pregnant women.