Association Between Dental Visits and Presenteeism Among Workers Receiving Workplace Oral Health Assessments: A Longitudinal Study in Japan-The Hitachi Oral Healthcare Survey.

Abstract

We assessed whether initiating a dental visit was associated with improvements in presenteeism among employees receiving workplace oral health assessments. This longitudinal study included 501 employees who had abnormal findings in oral health assessments at baseline, reported work functioning impairment, and had no history of dental visits during the year before baseline. The employees were classified into dental visit and nonvisit groups according to dental care during follow-up. Logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios for improvement in work functioning impairment at follow-up. Employees who initiated dental visits during the follow-up period exhibited greater improvement in work functioning impairment than those who did not (adjusted odds ratio = 1.97, 95% confidence interval = 1.16-3.35, P = 0.013). Incorporating oral health promotion into the workplace may enhance productivity.