Abstract

PODADERA VALDES, Zoila Rosa  and  FLORES PODADERA, Heydi. Assessment of the impact of the "Breast Feeding and its preventive role in tooth and jaw abnormalities" workshop, 2003. Rev Cubana Estomatol [online]. 2004, vol.41, n.1, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-297X.

With the objective of assessing the impact of comprehensive training workshop on the role of breast-feeding in the prevention of tooth and jaw abnormalities aimed at pregnant women, a prospective descriptive study of 42 pregnant women, who were admitted to the gynecological-obstetric area of "Abel Santamaría" provincial hospital from January 1st to March 31st, 2003 was conducted. Data were collected into a form that included a test to evaluate the level of knowledge of these women about the importance of breast-feeding in the prevention of tooth and jaw abnormalities. Analytical variables were age, job, origin and test marks. Once the test was applied, participating pregnant women were given a workshop on this topic and later, they made the test again. Before the training course, their level of knowledge on the significance of breast-feeding and the masticatory function on the development of the stomatognatic system was poor at the various age groups and biological and psycho-social variables studied. The most difficult topics were those related with jaw, nasal respiration and deglutition development. It was concluded that the training workshop for pregnant women had a great impact since it succeeded in conveying basic pieces of knowledge about natural feeding and the introduction of solid feeding in addition to the role of breast-feeding in the prevention of tooth and jaw abnormalities.

Keywords : breast-feeding; tooth abnormalities; jaw abnormalities.