The relationship between stress and oral health-related quality of life in public officials during the COVID-19 pandemic / 대한구강보건학회지

ABSTRACT

Objectives@#The purpose of this study was to identify whether stress experienced by those working in the local civil service was related to their oral health during the COVID-19 pandemic. @*Methods@#A survey was conducted on 431 civil servants from eight districts, currently working in the Daegu City Hall had COVID-19 related work duties during the pandemic. @*Results@#Several factors associated with oral health related quality of life were explored. Demographic details revealed that men had significantly better oral health related life quality as compared to women; further, being younger, being unmarried, and having a lower position had better outcomes for oral health related quality of life. Regarding the relationship between oral health behavior and oral health related quality of life, it was found that the better the subjective oral health, the higher the rate of not visiting the dentist in the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a particularly important time to explore in order to understand how the stress experienced by local government officials is related to their oral health. It has been especially noted that the higher the work stress, the worse the oral health related quality of life amongst individuals. @*Conclusions@#Results of this study emphasize that at a time when fatigue among civil servants is increasing due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, oral conditions caused by stress should be identified and greater awareness should be created about oral health care.