Oral Health Status and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) among steel factory workers of Visakhapatnam-A cross-sectional study

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.