Pregnant? Schedule a dentist appointment ASAP.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Premature babies have a hard road ahead of them. Not only do they suffer from respiratory problems and other complications from underdeveloped organs at birth, but they also face problems throughout their lifetimes, including difficulties having children of their own. The March of Dimes estimates that the number of premature births in this country is rising, with one in eight babies born too soon. A new study finds that curing a simple oral-health problem could cut down those numbers drastically. The study, presented at the recent meeting of the American Association for Dental Research, linked periodontal disease to a higher rate of premature births, but also found that treating it could reduce the numbers substantially.

THE DETAILS: The study included 872 pregnant women who were considered at high risk for giving birth prematurely. Half of the women had periodontal disease and half did not. Of those who did, 160 underwent scaling and root planing, a common treatment in which dentists clean infectious bacteria from around and below the gum line. Based on the results of that treatment, those 160 women were classified according to whether they were successfully treated or their periodontal disease didn't fully disappear. Looking at all 872 women, the researchers found that preterm births were much less common in the women who never had periodontal disease—just 7 percent of them gave birth at less than 35 weeks—while 23 percent of the women with periodontal disease did. Of the 160 women who received treatment for periodontal disease, only 3 percent of those who were treated successfully had preterm births, compared to 43 percent of the women for whom treatments were unsuccessful.

WHAT IT MEANS: Having any sort of chronic infection can trigger an early labor, says the study's lead author Marjorie Jeffcoat, DMD, professor and dean emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, whether you're dealing with pneumonia, swine flu or, in this case, periodontal disease. "These are infections that will trigger inflammation throughout the body," she says. "And once inflammatory levels get above a certain level, the baby says, 'I gotta get out of here.'" With periodontal disease especially, Dr. Jeffcoat says, chemicals and immune cells that create inflammation, known as inflammatory mediators, are the same ones that obstetricians use to induce labor.

She recommends that all women make dental visits part of their prenatal care plan. "Even if you're not considered high risk [for preterm labor], your gums will react to the higher levels of progestin you have in pregnancy and that will make you more reactive to plaque," she says, which usually means swollen, bleeding gums. Here's how to protect yourself and your baby: