PREVALENCE OF PERIODONTAL DISEASES AMONG INDUSTRIAL WORKERS EXPOSED TO HARMFUL FACTORS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and intensity of periodontal diseases among inductrial workers exposed to harmful factors. Subjects and methods. To achieve the goal, 263 employees from three industrial sectors in the Ivano-Frankivsk region were surveyed: chemical production, glass production, and the agro-industrial complex. Clinical examinations were conducted at the Department of Dentistry of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at IFNMU. The employees were divided into two groups: the main group, which included 185 workers directly involved in production, and the control group, which consisted of 78 individuals from administrative and support staff, matched for gender, age, and work experience. These control group members worked outside the main production areas. Clinical examinations for both groups followed a standard medical protocol, including the collection of anamnestic data and the assessment of patient complaints. Results and discussion. According to the obtained data, only 7,57% of 185 subjects in the main group had an intact periodontium, which is 1,7 times less common than the subjects of the control group, who did not have close contact with occupational pathogens. Periodontal diseases in the control group were found in 87,18% of people. This figure is close to the average population in the flat areas of the Ivano-Frankivsk region for age groups from 20 to 54 years. Among patients of the main group, the number of individuals with periodontal diseases was 5,25% higher, which is obviously due to the effect of unfavorable factors at enterprises. By studying the structure of periodontal diseases, it was established that among 171 individuals in the main groups that had periodontal diseases, gingivitis was diagnosed in 5,26% of patients, localized periodontitis in 3,51%, and periodontitis in 2,92%, and the rest – 88,31 % of people diagnosed with generalized periodontitis. Therefore, among patients of the main group who are exposed to occupational hazards, HP of the II and III degree is detected much more often - in 45,03% of patients, which is 12,67% more than in patients of the control group who are not in contact with harmful factors. The vast majority (67,64%) of employees of the administrative building had milder forms of periodontal disease: GP of the initial and first degree of development, gingivitis, localized periodontitis. Conclusions. Thus, a comparison of data from the study on the prevalence and condition of periodontal tissues in individuals exposed to occupational hazards in industrial production (main group) with the control group revealed the following: periodontal diseases develop much more rapidly in workers and are correlated with their work experience, leading to the presence of underlying conditions that contribute to the quick and intense progression of dystrophic-inflammatory processes in the periodontal tissues. Anamnestically, the majority of the subjects linked the initial manifestations of the disease to the onset of their work at the enterprise.