Comparison of the oral health problems and behavior of male daytime‐only and night‐shift office workers: An Internet survey

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the oral health problems and behavior of full-time male daytime-only and night shift office workers. Methods: The participants were recruited by applying screening procedures to a pool of Japanese registrants in an online database. During the period of 20 February 2015 to 11 March 2015, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about their oral health. A total of 325 daytime-only workers and 351 workers who sometimes worked night shifts, ages 30 to 69, were analyzed in this study. Results: Overall, the mean number of teeth of the night shift workers was lower than that of the daytime-only workers (p=0.002). When analyzed by age group, a significant difference was seen in the 50-69 age group (p=0.016). The percentage of night shift workers with decayed teeth was higher than that of the daytime-only workers (p<0.001). The night shift workers were more likely to report gingival bleeding (p=0.015) and stomatitis (p=0.025) than the daytime-only workers. The percentage of night shift workers reporting frequent brushing behavior was lower than that of the daytime-only workers (p=0.040). The independent variables found to correlate significantly with tooth decay were night shift work (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.20-2.67), current smoking habit (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.13-2.46), and BMI of ≥25 (OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.02-2.39). Conclusions: These results indicate a relationship between night shift work and oral health problems. Night shift workers may require additional support for oral health maintenance.

Factors Associated with Untreated Decayed Teeth in Male Sales Workers: An Internet Survey

“…After adjusting for confounding factors, night shift work and not having visited a dental clinic in the past 6 months were determined to be risk factors for the presence of DT. The present finding that night shift work is a risk factor for the presence of DT supports that of an earlier study by Ishizuka et al 12) . Furthermore, another earlier study found an association between shift work and periodontal health 8) , where it was found that shift workers aged ≥45 years were at higher risk for periodontitis.…”

“…Previous studies by the present group have investigated oral health status and behavior in workers by means of Internet-based surveys 12,31) . The focus in the present study, how-ever, was on sales workers alone, as oral conditions differ depending on occupation.…”

Working Environment Factors Associated with Regular Dental Attendance

“…Unfavorable health conditions among night workers have been reported 8) . Furthermore, a relationship has also been noted between night shift work and decayed teeth 5) . With respect to lifestyle, Han et al reported that night shift nurses had more unhealthy dietary behaviors than nurses without night shifts in a study of 340 hospital nurses 4) .…”

“…Suzuki et al reported that professional drivers had fewer teeth than white-collar workers 10) . In addition, Ishizuka et al found that night shift workers were more likely to report gingival bleeding and stomatitis than daytime-only workers 5) . These reports suggest that the working environment affects oral condition.…”

Factors associated with Regular Dental Attendance among White-collar Workers

“…We selected gender, age and family income as adjustment factors as these factors have been reported to be associated with regular dental attendance [2,4,[6][7][8][9][10][11]. Moreover, work environment [14,15], lifestyle [16][17][18] and oral hygiene behaviour [19,20] were included as questionnaire components because these factors have been reported as factors associated with dental diseases or regular dental attendance. As an indicator of measuring work stress, we picked some components in reference to the English version of the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire created by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare [21].…”