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Background and purpose: Oral health is one of the most important branches in public health. Great emphasis has been put on this issue by WHO in the department of Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion (CHP). This issue needs more attention regarding the health of pregnant women and their fetus. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 340 pregnant women who were selected through multistage random sampling method from Arak health centers. DMFT index and HBM (susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers and self-efficacy) were evaluated. Results: The mean age of women was 28.2 ± 3.7 years old and the mean of DMFT was 5.4 ± 2.83. Self-efficacy and perceived barriers were the main predictors of oral health behavior in pregnant women. The mean of oral health care performance in women was 43.1 ± 9.7. A significant correlation was found between perceived susceptibility and performance (r= 0.44, P= 0.008), perceived severity and performance (r= 0.51, P= 0.002), and self-efficacy and performance (r= 0.61, P= 0.001). In contrast, a significant negative correlation was observed between the perceived barriers to oral health care and pregnant women’s performances (r= -0.65, P= 0.001). Conclusion: According to this research perceived barriers were associated with oral hygiene behavior (tooth brushing). Therefore, these barriers should receive more attention by oral hygienists to promote educational programs regarding brushing. Moreover, self-efficacy was the most important predictor of oral health behavior in pregnant women. Hence, dental professionals should enhance self-confidence in pregnant women so that they could follow oral health care behavior.

Keywords: Health Belief Model, oral health, pregnant women

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