ABSTRACT
Expatriate workers are employed to work in various sectors in Saudi Arabia on a large scale. Even though various labour laws, schemes and policies are undertaken by the host country, oral health is not given the importance it deserves. This is reflected in factory workers having hidden adverse oral health issues which can hamper their working efficacy and, also their quality of life. In light of aforementioned we conducted this oral health status and treatment needs survey of factory workers in an industrial city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.METHODSThis was a cross-sectional survey study in which 119 males in the age group 18 to 64 years were included. World Health Organization (WHO) basic oral health survey form was used to extract data regarding the oral examination. The data were analysed using Chi-square test. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.RESULTSA significant association was seen between different age groups and mobility of teeth (p = 0.002), between education status and missing teeth (p = 0.032), between frequency of brushing and gingivitis (p = 0.009), between smoking habit and gingivitis (p = 0.000) and between smoking habit and missing teeth (p = 0 .010).CONCLUSIONThe results of the study showed that most of the factory workers had poor oral and dental health as a result of unawareness and lack of time to seek dental consultation. Primary oral health‑care programs like dental screening and oral health education at regular intervals should be made mandatory at factory premises, which will help them maintain their oral health, thus improving their quality of life.
ABSTRACT
Background: The HLA-B*15:02 polymorphism in epileptic patients is known to be associated with carbamazepine-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS). The prevalence of HLA-B*15:02 polymorphism seemed to be ethnic-specific with a higher frequency of HLA-B*15:02 in Asian compared to the Europeans. This study was performed to determine the frequency of the HLA-B*15:02 polymorphism in epileptic patients at the Chancellor Tuanku Muhriz Hospital-UKM Medical Centre (HCTM-UKMMC) using high resolution melting-real time PCR (HRM-QPCR) method. Methods: We performed a fast and effective in-house high resolution melting-real time polymerase chain reaction method and compared it with the conventional multiplex-PCR method. The specificity and sensitivity of each test were also determined using DNA from saliva. Results: Using the conventional multiplex-PCR approach for screening, 25 out of 64 (39.1%) epileptic patients were positive for HLA-B*15:02. However, using the HRM-QPCR technique, 24/64 (37.5%) of the patients were positive. The one patient who tested positive by the multiplex-PCR but negative using the HRM-QPCR turned out to be negative by DNA sequencing. The HRM-QPCR and DNA sequencing showed 100% sensitivity and specificity. The multiplex-PCR showed 100% sensitivity and 98.4% specificity compared to both HRM-QPCR and DNA sequencing. The HRM-QPCR is also more cost-effective (<$16.40 USD/test) and less time-consuming when compared to the multiplex-PCR ($25.15 USD/test).Conclusion: Our result suggested that multiplex PCR, HRM-QPCR and Sanger sequencing can be used for detection of HLA-B*15:02. However, a qualitative method such as multiplex PCR should be confirmed with other quantitative methods such as HRM-QPCR and Sanger sequencing.