busting chlorhexidine. The researchers found that the incidence of PT/LBW was markedly lower in the women who received periodontal therapy for their gum disease compared with those who received no treatment for their gum disease. The untreated women had a more than threefold higher risk of PT/LBW. The significant association between untreated gingivitis and preterm birth remained strong after adjusting for the major risk factors for preterm delivery, "suggesting that gingivitis is an independent risk factor for PT/LBW," the investigators say. In this study, periodontal therapy in women with pregnancy-associated gingivitis reduced the PT/LBW rate by 68 percent, which supports two previous intervention studies in which periodontal treatment reduced the incidence of PT/LBW between 71 percent and 84 percent in pregnant women with moderate to severe chronic periodontitis, Lopez and colleagues note. "Pregnancy-associated gingivitis is a preventable and easy to treat disease," Krebs noted in a statement. "Although it is still not known what are the precise mechanisms involved in the association between periodontal infections and preterm birth, to date, no harmful damaging effect caused by periodontal intervention in pregnant women has been reported." --SP 2135 Local Time 1835 GMT
