ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The occupational environment influences oral health to a greater extent. The unique environment in the steel factory might influence oral health and oral health-related quality of life of its workers, especially those who are exposed to its environment. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To determine oral health status and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life among production line and administration workers of a steel factory and assess their relationship with occupation exposure. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 533 production line and 517 administration workers of the steel factory aged 31-60 years using simple random sampling. The collected data includes information on demographic factors, adverse habits of the study subjects, and oral health-related quality of life using Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14). The oral health status was assessed using the WHO oral health assessment form 2013. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: SPSS Version 20 was used for statistical analysis. A student t-test was done to compare means. RESULTS: The prevalence of dental caries is 62.5% in the production line and 74.9% in administration workers, and the prevalence of periodontal status is 91.6% and 74.8%, respectively. The mean of OHIP-14 was 2.13 ± 0.73 in the production line and 2.33 ± 0.77 in administration workers. All domains of OHIP-14 were found to have high statistical significance with dental caries, periodontal pocket depth, loss of attachment, oral mucosal lesions, dental erosion, and dental trauma in both study groups (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: OHIP-14 scores were related significantly with oral health status indicators in both study groups. The prevalence of the periodontal disease, oral mucosal lesions, and OHIP-14 scores was found to be significantly higher among production line workers.
ABSTRACT
CONTEXT: Self-care is one of the ways in which people without access to professional care can actively engage in managing their oral health problems. AIM: To find out the prevalence of dental pain and the type of self-care remedies utilised for pain relief by people with low socio-economic status residing in Kollipara mandal, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional population-based study. METHODS AND MATERIAL: A multistage simple random-sampling technique was adopted to obtain an appropriate sample. A questionnaire, which consisted of sections on socio-economic and demographic variables, dental pain, pain characteristics and self-care remedies utilised to combat dental pain, was used to collect data. Statistical analysis used the chi-square test and descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The survey covered a total population of 630 individuals. The mean age of the population was 32.8±16.7 years. Among the total study subjects, 44.1% were male and 55.9% were female. The prevalence of dental pain reported during the preceding 6 months was 28.3%. Subjects who experienced dental pain reported the home remedies and self-care methods that they utilised to get relief from the pain. They more frequently reported using over-the-counter medication (49.6%) for pain relief. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides an insight into the type and usage of self-care in relief of dental pain. Pain sufferers used a variety of self-care methods to deal with their problems.
