ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the work loss caused by oral diseases of workers and their subjective self-perceived oral health status. The study focused on the relationship between work loss due to oral diseases and self-perceived oral health status. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted. The sample consisted of 550 workers who resided in Ansan City and Gwacheon City. The data were collected from a self-reported questionnaire survey. RESULTS: The percentage of workers that were absent from the workplace due to oral diseases in the past year was 4.8%, and the average of days of absence from the workplace per worker was 0.1 day. Most of the workers (41.1%) answered “average” for the self-perceived oral health status. However, there were more workers that answered “not healthy” than workers that answered “healthy” for the self-perceived oral health status. The percentage of workers that felt the need for dental treatment because of the presence of oral diseases was 59.5%. There was a statistically significant relationship between the work loss due to oral diseases and the subjective self-perceived oral health status. CONCLUSIONS: Work loss due to oral diseases and subjective self-perceived oral health status should be periodically assessed for use as basic data for the development of oral health-promotion policies for workers.