Premature Birth Awareness

The March of Dimes is celebrating Prematurity Awareness. The goal of this event is to draw attention to premature birth, which affects more than 530,000 babies each year in the United States.

In the first of what will be an annual Premature Birth Report Card, the nation received a D and not a single state earned an A when the March of Dimes compared actual preterm birth rates to the national Healthy People 2010 objective.

Recent studies have linked maternal periodontal disease to preterm birth. Furthermore, studies have indicated that the treatment of periodontitis in pregnant mothers can reduce the risk of preterm birth.