Dental pain prevalence among health care personnel

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Dental pain is a major reason for looking for dental services. Toothache may prevent or impair daily activities, such as working, having fun or socializing. This study aimed at evaluating dental pain prevalence in the last six months, among employees of the Teaching Hospital, Vitoria, ES. METHODS:This was an analytical, observational cross-sectional study. Data were collected by six trained interviewers by means of standardized interviews filling a questionnaire previously used by other studies about toothache among employees of the state of Espirito Santo, which included demographic and social information, as well as toothache report, type of pain (spontaneous or induced), use of dental services and employment bond. Confidence level of 95%, error of 5% and expected prevalence of 50% were used for sample calculation. Final sample was made up of 265 employees. The association between studied variables and dental pain prevalence was observed using Pearson Chi-square test with significance level of 5%. Odds Ratio and respective confidence intervals (CI-95%) were estimated for statistically significant variables. RESULTS: Dental pain prevalence was 65.7%. Employees with up to 39 years of age (p=0.004, OR=2.081 CI 95%=1.226; 3.530), of economic classes C and D (p=0.007, OR=1.968 CI 95%=1.173; 3.30) and those receiving up to three minimum wages have reported higher dental pain prevalence (p=0.000, OR=2.829 CI=1.611; 4.967). CONCLUSION: There has been high dental pain prevalence among employees. Strategies to decrease such event should be implemented aiming at improving quality of life of such employees.

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