Occupational tooth-wear in clothing industry workers

A research on tooth-wear was done in a clothing factory, focusing on the teeth of the inter-canine sector in 59 workers who had volunteered for the research. The subjects were in the habit of cutting the thread with their teeth instead of using scissors as was prescribed in the production process. In 53 (89.83%) of the subjects, damages of the incisal portion of the tooth were found, whereas in the remaining 6 (10.17%) there were no such changes. No significant difference could be established in the incidence of tooth-wear between the women workers who cut the thread with their teeth constantly and those who only did that occasionally (p > 0.05). Because of the action of pulling a thread across the incisal edge of the incisor, defects--in the form of solitary, oval or multiple cuts (attributed the values 1, 2 and 3)--had been inflicted on the incisal portion of the teeth. Most frequently those were the defects of the enamel (type 2, 1), but in some cases dentin (type 3), also was affected. A somewhat more severe degree of damage was observed from workers biting the purely polyester-made thread (p < 0.05) than from biting the regular sewing type of thread. Education of the workers seems to be the only useful prevention, since we are dealing with only a bad habit. Therefore, the workers should be warned that the seemingly innocent cutting of thread with their teeth could lead to esthetic, functional and restorative problems.