Is Oral Health of the Sugar Mill Workers Being Compromised?

Introduction: Occupational environment has an immense influence on the general as well as oral health. The specific exposure to sugar and its byproducts might influence the dental health of sugar mill workers.

Aim and objectives: The present study was conducted to assess and compare the oral health status of production line workers and administration staff working in the sugar mills of Western Uttar Pradesh.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in four Government aided and four Private sugar mills of West Uttar Pradesh, India among the production line workers and administration staff. Multistage random sampling methodology was employed to select total of 600 sugar mill factory workers (449 production line workers and 151 administration staff). The oral health status of the study subjects was assessed using the modified WHO Oral health survey Performa 1997.

Statistical analysis: SPSS 19 Version was used for statistical analysis. Mean, Standard Deviation and proportions were calculated for each clinical parameter. Student t-test and Chi-square analysis was done to analyse inter group comparison.

Results: Mean DMFT for production and non production line workers was 7.67± 2.99 and 0.15 ± 1.34 (p= 0.001) respectively. 80.17% of production line workers had maximum CPI score 2 in contrast to 63.57% of administration staff (p=0.324).

Conclusion: The dental health was found to be debilitated among the production line workers of Sugar mill as compared to the Administrative staff. It is therefore recommended to raise the awareness among the sugar mill workers regarding the same.