Background: Females are generally more motivated with regard to oral hygiene practices and thus brush their teeth more frequently than males.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of gingival recession, oral hygiene status, oral hygiene practices and associated factors in women attending a maternity ward in Tanzania.
Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.
Setting: Maternity ward of Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania.
Subjects: Four hundred and forty six women were interviewed on oral hygiene practices and maternal factors, and a full-mouth examination was done to determine the presence of plaque, calculus, gingival bleeding and gingival recession at six sites per tooth.
Results: The prevalence of gingival recession (GR) > or =1 mm was 33.6%, calculus 99.3%, plaque 100%, and gingival bleeding 100%. Oral hygiene practices included toothbrushing (98.9%), brushing frequency > or =2 times/day (61.2%), horizontal brushing method (98%), and using a plastic toothbrush (97.8%). Factors that were significantly associated with gingival recession were age (OR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.3-3.2), presence of calculus (OR(a) = 3.8, 95% CI=2.5-7.1), and gingival bleeding on probing (OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 2.5-7.1). Tooth cleaning practices and maternal factors, especially the number of pregnancies or deliveries were not significantly associated with gingival recession.
Conclusion: In this study population, oral hygiene was poor and gingival recession was associated with age, calculus and gingival inflammation rather than with tooth cleaning practices.