Dental Care in High-Risk Pregnancy: A Scoping Review.

OBJECTIVES: To map evidence on dental care and oral health conditions among women with high-risk pregnancies, identifying care settings, clinical approaches, and knowledge gaps relevant to oral health practice. METHODS: This scoping review followed PRISMA-ScR guidelines and was registered in the Open Science Framework. PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, SciELO, LILACS, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched without language or publication-year restrictions. Eligible human studies included pregnant women explicitly classified as high-risk and addressed oral health conditions or dental care assessed or provided by licensed dentists. RESULTS: Of 970 records identified, five observational studies met the eligibility criteria. The studies were conducted in Brazil and India and included 1985 high-risk pregnant women receiving care in primary, specialized outpatient, or hospital settings. Periodontal disease and untreated dental caries were prevalent. One study reported a significant association between periodontitis and preeclampsia. Limited access to dental services, insufficient prenatal dental counseling, and organizational barriers were also identified. CONCLUSION: Evidence on dental care in high-risk pregnancy is limited and heterogeneous and focuses mainly on oral disease prevalence and access to care rather than clinical management protocols. Greater integration of oral health into risk-stratified prenatal care and research on dental management strategies are needed.