Oral health status of workers exposed to acid fumes in phosphate and battery industries in Jordan

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and nature of oral health problem s among workers exposed to acid fumes in two industries in Jordan. Setting: Jordan's Phosphate Mining Company and a main private battery factory. Desi gn: Comparison of general and oral health conditions between workers expose d to acid fumes and control group from the same workplace. Subjects and met hods: The sample consisted of 68 subjects from the phosphate industry (37 a cid workers and 31 controls) drawn as a sample of convenience and 39 subjec ts from a battery factory (24 acid workers and 15 controls). Structured que stionnaires on medical and dental histories were completed by interview. Cl inical examinations were carried out to assess dental erosion, oral hygiene , and gingival health using the appropriate indices. Data were statisticall y analysed using Wilcoxon rank-sum test to assess the significance of diffe rences between results attained by acid workers and control groups for the investigated parameters. Results: Differences in the erosion scores between acid workers in both industries and their controls were highly significant (P <0.05). In both industries, acid workers showed significantly higher or al hygiene scores, obtained by adding the debris and calculus scores, and g ingival index scores than their controls (P <0.05). The single most common complaint was tooth hypersensitivity (80%) followed by dry mouth (77%) on a verage. Conclusion: Exposure to acid fumes in the work place was significan tly associated with dental erosion and deteriorated oral health status. Suc h exposure was also detrimental to general health. Findings pointed to the need of establishing appropriate educational, preventive and treatment meas ures coupled with efficient surveillance and environmental monitoring for d etection of acid fumes in the workplace atmosphere.