What are the Behavioural Communication Interventions for Improving Oral Health Outcomes of Pregnant Women? A Scoping review

This scoping review aims to systematically map and synthesize evidence on oral health promotion interventions targeting pregnant women, focusing on intervention types, delivery modalities, and underlying theoretical frameworks. Pregnancy-related physiological and behavioural changes increase vulnerability to oral diseases, with potential implications for maternal and child health, prompting the implementation of diverse psychological, behavioural, and clinical interventions across healthcare and community settings. The findings of this scoping review are expected to facilitate the identification of key evidence gaps as well as methodological and implementation-related challenges, thereby informing the optimization and development of more robust interventions. By prioritizing a comprehensive synthesis of intervention components and delivery modalities, and critically appraising their respective strengths and limitations rather than aggregating effect estimates, the review is anticipated to generate feasible insights to address specific oral health behaviours. Collectively, these insights are intended to inform improvements in the design, delivery, and feasibility of behaviour change communication interventions within prenatal care settings and to support the development of effective, contextually appropriate oral health promotion strategies for women during pregnancy.