Title: Dental assistance for workers: Access, satisfaction and quality of life
Abstract:
This study aimed to analyze the influence of dental care offered by companies on workers’ oral health, in access, in satisfaction and quality of life. This is a quantitative, exploratory and cross-sectional study conducted in a medium-sized municipality in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, Brazil. The data collection was held in January and February 2018, based on a questionnaire composed of socio-economic-demographic questions, access, satisfaction and type of dental care offered by companies, Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (OIDP) and World Health Organization instrument to evaluate quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF). A clinical examination was also performed by a calibrated researcher to collect the DMFT index (K=0.86), periodontal condition (K=0.88) and need for a prosthesis (K=0.97). The associations were analyzed by the Chi-square test (X2) and Speaman's correlation. A total of 1,343 workers from companies (n=4) with different dental care status (F1: own/private care, n = 440, F2: outsourced care, n = 333, F3: had assistance [does not have any more], n = 298 and F4: never had dental assistance, n = 272). Most of the volunteers in the sample (69.7%) were aged up to 39 years. A mean DMFT of 15.70 (± 7.18) where F1 (DMFT 10.81±6.38) had the lowest index and F4 (DMFT 22.78±3.10) the highest was observed. The best mean of healthy sextants, bleeding and dental calculus, was presented by F1: 39.5%, 17.4% and 9.7%, respectively, where F4 had the worst indexes: 12.7%, 33% and 66.6%. The use of a superior prosthesis was more frequent than the use of a lower prosthesis in all companies. Workers from the F1 company had the highest values for all WHOQOL-BREF domains (76,7±6,86), while the lowest values were observed in the F3 company (68,1±11,29). The impact of oral health conditions on workers' quality of life was very common (97%), but not very serious, with a maximum average value of 12% (found among F1 workers), measured by OIDP. It was concluded that workers from companies that have dental care presented greater facilities related to access to dental care, better levels of satisfaction related to care received, better oral health indexes and better perception of quality of life.
