Abstract
In this research, a questionnaire survey was carried out on 602 workers in and around Seoul to survey the state of work loss caused by workers oral diseases, to identify relevant factors, and to prepare basic data for workers oral health promotion. Work loss was investigated based on the experiences of absences, early leavings and interferences with tasks, which had happened from oral diseases. The number of variables investigated for determining work loss and relevancy were total 18 including socioeconomic factors such as gender, age and education level of the householder, work-related factors and oral health behaviors. Using the survey data, rates of work loss experience and average work loss day were derived. In addition, the factors relevant to work loss were analyzed through the multiple logistic regression method. The results of this study are as follows; 1. The rate of absence experience caused by oral diseases during the workers whole working years was 21.6%,and the yearly rate of partial absence experience was 5.3%. 2. The average days of absence caused by oral disease were 0.10 per worker a year and the average days of partial absence and early leaving were 0.20 per worker a year. 3. The workers who felt that the workload was too heavy were more likely to have experiences of absence and interference with tasks than those who did not. 4. The workers who had difficulties in transportation to dental clinics were more likely to have experiences of absence and interference with tasks than those who did not. In addition, those who were pressed by time are more likely to experience absence that those who were not. 5. The workers who were negative toward early treatment of oral diseases are more likely to experience partial absences and interference with tasks that those who were positive toward early treatment of oral diseases. 6. The factors of perceiving self-oral health status and having regular dentists appeared to be relevant to all types of work losses.