Introduction & Objective: Recent studies have presented evidence that periodontal disease in pregnant women may be a determining factor for newborn’s low birth weight. The present investigation was carried out to verify whether there is an association between maternal periodontal disease and low birth weight of newborns.

Materials and Methods: This was a case-control study on 330 women, containing 110 mothers having live newborns with weight <2500 g (case group) and 220 mothers having live newborns with weight> 2500 g (control group). The existence of an association between periodontal disease and newborn’s low birth weight was evaluated by means of analytic statistics that considered other risk factors for low weight. The two groups were compared with regard to urinary infection, preeclampsia, premature rupture of membrane, placenta previa, primiparous, smoking, age, height, socioeconomic status and periodontal disease.

Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the case and control groups for any of the covariables (P>0.05), but there was significant differences for principal independent variable (periodontal disease) P<0.05.

Conclusion: Results indicated a positive association between periodontal disease and newborn’s low birth weight. Thus periodontal disease is a possible risk factor for low birth weight.