Adverse childhood experiences and dental cleaning during pregnancy: Findings from the North and South Dakota PRAMS, 2017-2021

Alexander Testa; Dylan B Jackson; Allison Crawford; Rahma Mungia; Kyle T Ganson; Jason M Nagata

doi:10.1111/jphd.12614

Adverse childhood experiences and dental cleaning during pregnancy: Findings from the North and South Dakota PRAMS, 2017-2021

J Public Health Dent. 2024 Apr 24. doi: 10.1111/jphd.12614. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Alexander Testa¹, Dylan B Jackson², Allison Crawford³, Rahma Mungia⁴, Kyle T Ganson⁵, Jason M Nagata⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Management, Policy and Community Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
² Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
³ School of Nursing, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
⁴ Department of Periodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
⁵ Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.

PMID: 38659075
DOI: 10.1111/jphd.12614

Abstract

Objective: Research demonstrates that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)-that is, experiences of abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction-are related to lower preventive dental care utilization in childhood and adolescence. However, limited research has explored the connection between ACEs and preventive dental care utilization in adulthood, and no research has examined this relationship during pregnancy. The current study extends existing research by investigating the relationship between ACEs and dental cleaning and dental care utilization during pregnancy among a sample of women who delivered live births in North Dakota and South Dakota.

Methods: Data are from the 2017 to 2021 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) in North Dakota and South Dakota (n = 7391). Multiple logistic regression is used to examine the relationship between the number of ACEs (0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 or more) and dental cleaning during pregnancy.

Results: Relative to respondents with 0 ACEs, those with 4 or more ACEs were significantly less likely to report having dental care during pregnancy (OR = 0.757, 95% CI = 0.638, 0.898). By racial and ethnic background, the results showed that the significant associations are concentrated among White and Native American respondents.

Conclusions: The results suggest that exposure to 4 or more ACEs is associated with a significantly lower likelihood of dental cleaning during pregnancy among women who delivered a live birth in North Dakota and South Dakota. Further investigations are necessary to understand the mechanisms underlying the relationship between ACEs and dental cleaning during pregnancy and replicate the findings in other geographic contexts.

Keywords: PRAMS; adverse childhood experiences; dental cleaning; pregnancy; prenatal.

Abstract

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