Dental Caries Status and Oral Hygiene Practices of Lock Factory Workers in Aligarh City

BACKGROUND: The aim was to evaluate the oral hygiene practices and dental caries status of lock factory workers in Aligarh city. MATERIALS AND METHODS: WHO Oral Health Assessment form (2013) was used to collect data from each subject. A total of 850 subjects constituted the final sample size. Information was obtained regarding the oral hygiene practices and clinical examinations were conducted. Descriptive analysis was done and the data were analyzed using Chi-square test. RESULTS: The prevalence of dental caries was 46.5%. Almost half of the workers i.e., 456 (53.6%) used brush to clean their teeth. Majority of the subjects i.e., 784 (92.2%) cleaned their teeth once a day. It was found that 466 (54.8%) used toothpaste for maintaining oral hygiene. Almost half of the subjects consumed tobacco in form of gutkha, cigarette, and in multiple forms. CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed that dental caries and poor oral hygiene are major public health problems among the factory workers. Primary oral health-care programs like dental screening and oral health education at regular intervals should be made mandatory, which will help to prevent accumulation of health-care demands of the factory employees.