# Pathways to Oral Health Among Low-income Pregnant Urban Women

> **NIH NIH R01** · RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $342,888

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Racial/ethnic minority and low-income women are most vulnerable to poor oral health during pregnancy.
These vulnerable women are less likely than White and higher-income women to utilize dental care during
pregnancy. However, pregnancy is often the only time when these women can access dental care through the
Medicaid program. National evidence-based guidelines advocate for dental care during pregnancy to improve
oral health. However, prenatal oral health programs designed to increase dental utilization among vulnerable
pregnant women have had disappointing results. The major obstacle to identifying upstream barriers to
downstream dental care utilization during pregnancy is the lack of longitudinal data on factors that predict
dental care utilization and oral health in vulnerable women. This study is informed by the Theory of
Constrained Choice (Bird & Rieker, 1999), which posits that women’s opportunities to create a healthy lifestyle
are constrained due to social and gender-related processes that interact with biological processes (e.g.,
pregnancy). This study will leverage an ongoing interprofessional collaboration between the New York
University College of Dentistry and the Bellevue Hospital Obstetrics and Gynecology Service. We will collect
survey data on socio-behavioral and psychosocial factors common in these vulnerable women during the first
trimester of pregnancy. We will conduct clinical oral examinations to evaluate tooth loss, dental caries,
gingivitis and periodontitis and will refer all women for dental care. We will re-survey and re-examine these
women during the third trimester of pregnancy and will use Medicaid claims to evaluate dental care utilization.
We will use cross-sectional and longitudinal structural equation modeling to identify socio-behavioral and
psychosocial predictors of dental care utilization and oral health during pregnancy. This project explicitly
addresses RFA-OD-19-029’s call to examine sex and gender influences on oral health and oral disease and
expand research on female-specific conditions and diseases, including reproductive stages and maternal and
gynecologic health. This research will elucidate which factors must be addressed when designing interventions
to improve dental care utilization and oral health outcomes among pregnant women at elevated risk for oral
disease. This study is the first step in addressing our long-term goal to improve the oral health of vulnerable
women by intervening during pregnancy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11099210
- **Project number:** 7R01DE029963-04
- **Recipient organization:** RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Stefanie L Russell
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $342,888
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2024-06-01 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11099210

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11099210, Pathways to Oral Health Among Low-income Pregnant Urban Women (7R01DE029963-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11099210. Licensed CC0.

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