OBJECTIVES: to evaluate pregnant women's knowledge on oral health and its association with sociodemographic characteristics.
METHODS: this exploratory cross-sectional study included a convenience sample of 69 women attended at a prenatal referral outpatient clinic in a Brazilian city. Data were collected using an oral health questionnaire adapted from Bianco (2010); higher scores indicated better knowledge. The outcome "knowledge on oral health " was dichotomized at the sample mean (less/more). Sociodemographic and oral health-related variables were obtained from the questionnaire, and associations were tested using Pearson's chi-square/Fisher's exact tests (α=0.05).
RESULTS: most participants who were unemployed, had completed secondary education, and had low family income; 50.7% had less knowledge on oral health. Lower scores involved primary and permanent dentition, tooth eruption and exfoliation, and causes of dental caries, halitosis, and oral cancer. In bivariate analyses, women with lower family income and lower schooling were more frequently classified as having lower knowledge on oral health, whereas employed women were more frequently classified as having higher knowledge.
CONCLUSION: pregnant women showed limited knowledge on oral health, especially among those in socioeconomically more vulnerable groups. Given the cross-sectional design and the use of an unvalidated instrument for pregnant women, findings should be interpreted cautiously and may inform educational strategies in similar services.

Palavras-chave: Oral health, Pregnant women, Knowledge, Cross-sectional study, Observational study