Summary
The aim of this work was to determine the frequency of acceptance of popular beliefs about the oral health of pregnant women attended at the obstetric services of the Luis Albrecht and Belén hospitals in Trujillo, La Libertad – Peru. We worked with 320 pregnant women attended between October and November 2016, using the accidental non-probabilistic selection method. To determine the reliability of the survey, the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 statistic was used, finding a reliability of 0.765 (p <0.05); In addition, it was validated by expert judgment. Descriptive statistics was used to present the results. The popular belief of more frequent acceptance was “My baby takes calcium and fluoride from my teeth during pregnancy” with 55.94 %, while the least frequent was “If I see a lightning or lightning, my son will be born with a split lip”, with 3.13 %. According to educational level, the most accepted was “My baby takes calcium and fluoride from my teeth during pregnancy” with 68 % in those of secondary education level; according to age range, the most frequent was “The calcium in my milk will come out of my teeth when I breastfeed my baby”, with 53.3 % between the ages of 15 – 29 years; while, the most accepted belief according to hospital was “The calcium of my milk will come out of my teeth when I breastfeed my baby”, with 53.1 % in the pregnant women of Bethlehem hospital in Trujillo. The popular belief of more frequent acceptance was “My baby takes calcium and fluoride from my teeth during pregnancy”, while the least frequent was “If I see a lightning or lightning, my son will be born with a split lip”. The acceptance of popular beliefs about the loss of calcium during pregnancy are the most frequent according to educational level, age range and hospital.
KEY WORDS: pregnant, beliefs, oral health, health surveys, dentistry, hospitals.
How to cite this article
ASMAT-ABANTO, A. S. & ALVARADO-SANTILLÁN, G. H. Popular beliefs on oral health of pregnant attended at two Peruvian hospitals. Int. J. Odontostomat., 13(4):486492, 2019.
