Antepartum vaginal bleeding, fetal exposure to oral pathogens, and risk for preterm birth at <35 weeks of gestation

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2006.02.026 Byline: Kim A. Boggess (a), Kevin Moss (b), Amy Murtha (c), Steven Offenbacher (b), James D. Beck (b) Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the risks for fetal exposure to oral pathogens and the relationship between vaginal bleeding and fetal exposure in preterm birth risk. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (b) Center for Oral and Systemic Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (c) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC Article History: Received 9 December 2005; Revised 5 February 2006; Accepted 15 February 2006 Article Note: (footnote) Supported by National Institutes of Health grants K08 HD043284, R01 DE12453 and the University of North Carolina General Clinical Research Center grant RR00046. Presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine, January 30-February 4, 2006, Miami, Florida. Reprints will not be available from the authors.