Objective:

to evaluate the oral health condition of pregnant/postpartum women attending public services in the city of Feira de Santana, BA, Brazil, at three different times between 2005 and 2015.

Methods:

this is a study socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, health condition and health care, lifestyle and oral health status of 1,245 participants obtained from a database of three previous investigations: I Intervention Study (2005-2007); II Case-Control Study (2010-2011); III Case-Control Study (2012-2015).

Results:

comparing the three periods, the frequency of gingivitis (24.41% versus 8.90% versus 5.77%; p<0.01) and periodontitis (44.64% vs 9.16% vs 11.55%; p<0.01) was found to decrease; the worst dental conditions regarding the number of teeth present, healthy and extracted and the DMFT index were found in period III compared to period II.

Conclusion:

an improvement was seen in the participants’ periodontal condition over time, which coincides with the implementation of policies pertaining to women's health, oral health and income redistribution in this city.

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