Relationship between Quality of Life and Industrial Workers' Oral Health Evaluation

산업근로자의 구강건강평가 및 삶의 질과의 관련성

  • Kim, Hye-Jin (Dept. of Dental Hygiene, Daegu Science College) ;
  • Park, Chun-Man (Dept. of Dental Hygiene, Daegu Science College) ;
  • Lee, Jong-Youl (Dept. of Public Health Graduate School Keimyung University)
  • 김혜진 (대구과학대학 치위생과) ;
  • 박천만 (대구과학대학 치위생과) ;
  • 이종열 (계명대학교 대학원 공중보건학과)
  • Published : 2006.12.20

Abstract

This study was conducted among 831 industrial workers in Gumi City in Gyung-Sang-Buk Do for the purpose of acquiring knowledge to improve quality of life though industrial workers' oral health promotion. Oral examination and questionnaire surveying were used to evaluate workers' oral health state and subjective health state and analyze their effect on quality of life. 1. The number of workers in the study were 831 in all; there were more males who accounted for 74.6%. 43.7% of the subject were 29 years old, accounting for the largest age group. Their academic backgrounds are 53.6% workers who graduated from high schools or lower educational institutions, and 46.4% workers who graduated from college or higher educational institutions. 80.7% of the subjects replied that their economic state belonged to the middle class. Their job classification indicates that 70.2% were working in production and engineering fields and that the seniority of 55.3% workers was less than 55.3%. 2. The result of evaluating the effects of oral health state on individual well-being and quality of life using OHIP indicates that younger people, singles(p<0.01) than the married, those in worse economic situation and those with shorter seniority(p<0.01) had higher effect of oral health state on quality of life. In addition, those whose health or oral health was not good (p<0.01), those with liked tough texture of food and snacks(p<0.05), those with more frequency of drinking(p<0.01) and those with more smoking tended to have higher effect of oral health state on daily life or quality of life. Besides, OHIP confirmed that oral health state is a measurement tool that can evaluate its effect on individual well-being and quality of life. The suggestion for future studies is to develop Korean style OHIP that can be used conveniently and efficiently by expanding the subject area up to the whole country and validating the samples gained from random sampling.

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