A pilot study on maternal oral health and birth weight of twins

Background: Oral health has been implicated in low birth weight or preterm birth. However, this relationship has not yet been studied in twins. We investigated whether maternal oral health was associated with the birth weights of twins by a cross-sectional study conducted at Helsinki University Central Hospital. Methods: Utilizing linear mixed effect models to recognize the correlation between twins from the same mothers and the independence between different mothers. 40 birth weights of twins were modeled as main outcomes. In model 1, poor periodontal health (PPH) was fitted as the main explanatory variable. In model 2, presence of non-specific oral mucositis (NSOM) was fitted as the main predictor. Results: In model 1, babies from mothers with PPH weighed approximately 158.2 grams less than babies of mothers without PPH. However, this association was not statistically significant (p = 0.11). When a stricter criterion for PPH (3 sites of pocket depth > 4 mm) was used, p-value decreased to 0.09 showing a dose response to PPH. In model 2, mothers with NSOM had babies weighing 224.9 grams less than mothers without these lesions. This was nearly significant (p = 0.08). Conclusion: Although not significant, the results from this small data of twins suggest that maternal oral health may be associated with birth weight of twin neonates. Our results are appropriate to generate hypothesis for future studies.