Periodontal and Periapical Inflammation and Pregnancy

This is a retrospective chart review of patient records at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. We are not actively recruiting patients for this study. Recent animal studies we conducted showed that periapical abscesses during pregnancy cause a systemic inflammatory response in the mother. Also due to the increase in TNF-alpha (an inflammatory cytokine) the mother also become insulin resistant and thus developed gestational diabetes. Periodontal inflammation has been shown in the research to lead to low-birth weight and pre-term birth. We are looking retrospectively to see if an association exists in charted data between periapical and periodontal inflammation and adverse pregnancy outcomes.