A Study on the Effect and Related Factors of Self-Perceived Oral Health Awareness and Dental Care on Work Loss of Workers in the Capital Region

Yoon, Mi sook

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the self-rated oral health status of industrial workers and influential factors for their work loss caused by dental care in an effort to prepare some information on policy setting about the promotion of the oral health of industrial workers and on the prevention of their oral diseases. The married industrial workers experienced work loss due to dental care more commonly than did the unmarried workers (Ï‡²=5.10, p < 0.05). In addition, the workers who found themselves to be in worse health experienced significantly more work loss (Ï‡²=29.69, p < 0.001). The workers who received treatment for oral diseases experienced significantly more work loss than those who did not receive treatment (Ï‡²=14.60, p < 0.001). In addition, the workers who had oral symptoms requiring treatment experienced more work loss than the others who not (Ï‡²=11.08, p < 0.01). The experience of not receiving treatment for a perceived oral disease was more dominant among the workers who found themselves to have an oral disease but did not receive treatment than among those who received treatment (p < 0.001). Regarding factors affecting the work loss of the industrial workers caused by dental care, the workers whose monthly mean income was larger and who found themselves to be in worse health had significantly more experience of absenting themselves from the office or of leaving work early (p < 0.001).