Table 2.

Unfavourable beliefs about utilization of dental services during pregnancy

Unfavourable beliefs about dental treatment

• Dental treatment adversely affects the fetus / is not safe [21, 22, 25, 28, 31, 32, 37–39, 42, 44, 47, 51, 52, 54, 55, 57]. • Dental treatment should be avoided during pregnancy (reasons not specified) [28, 47, 49]. • Teeth may not be treated during pregnancy (reasons not specified) [23, 36, 41, 59]. • Pregnant women should seek dental treatment only in case of emergency [37, 49, 53, 54, 57, 60].

Unfavourable beliefs about dental visit

• Dental visits are not necessary [11, 34, 41, 47, 58, 61]. • Dental visits are not safe [39, 44, 53, 61]. • Dental visits should be avoided (reasons not specified) [12, 20, 29, 30]. • Dental visits for a check-up are not safe [28, 33, 48, 50].