[Association between dental erosion and exposure to acids in a chemical factory]

An examination of dental erosion status and a semi-quantitative assessment of exposure to acids were carried out for 134 workers in a chemical factory in Osaka Prefecture, and an association between the dental erosion and the exposure to acids was discussed. 1) Percentage of workers with dental erosion of grade + or more among the subjects was 30.6%. 2) Most of the erosion was observed in the front teeth. There were more eroded teeth in the upper jaw than in the lower jaw. 3) The workers were divided into 4 groups according to job type at the time of the examination: production, research, clerical work and others. The production workers, those routinely handling a large amount of various kinds of acids, was the highest proportion of workers with eroded teeth. Because some of the clerical workers had previously handled acids, this group of workers included a larger number of those with dental erosion than the other two groups. 4) More than half of the workers who had been engaged in production had eroded teeth including those of grade +/- 5) The intensity of exposure to acids, as a semi-quantitative index for cumulative exposure to acids, was calculated in each worker from a score for the job type and its duration. A significant association was observed between the intensity and the manifestation of dental erosion.