• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.347-365
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• 1995

A survey was conducted to study perception and attitudes of health workers towards health center's activities and organization of health services, from August 15 to September 30, 1994. The study population was 310 health workers engaged in seven urban health centers in Taegu City area. A questionnaire method was used to collect data and response rate was 81.3 percent or 252 respondents. The following are summaries of findings: Profiles of study population: Health workers were predominantly female(62.3%); had college education(60.3%); and held medical and nursing positions(39.6%), technicians(30.6%) and public health/administrative positions(29.8%). Perceptions on health center's resources: Slightly more than a half(51.1%) of respondents expressed that physical facilities of the centers are inadequate; equipments needed are short(39.0%); human resource is inadequate(44.8%); and health budget allocated is insufficient(38.5%) to support the performance of health center's activities. Decentralization and health services: The majority revealed that the decentralization of government system would affect the future activities of health centers(51.9%) which may have to change. However, only one quarter of respondents(25.4%) seemed to view the decentralization positively as they expect that it would help perform health activities more effectively. The majority of the respondents(78.6%) insisted that the function and organization of the urban health centers should be changed. Target workload and job satisfaction: A large proportion (43.3%) of respondents felt that present target setting systems for various health activities are unrealistic in terms of community needs and health center's situation while only 11.1 percent responded it positively; the majority(57.5%) revealed that they need further training in professional fields to perform their job more effectively; more than one third(35.7%) expressed that they enjoy their professional autonomy in their job performance; and a considerable proportion (39.3%) said they are satisfied with their present work. Regarding the personnel management, more worker(47.3%) perceived it negatively than positive(11.5%) as most of workers seemed to think the personnel management practiced at the health centers is not fair or justly done. Health services rendered: Among health services rendered, health workers perceived the following services are most successfully delivered; they are, in order of importance, Tb control, curative services, and maternal and child health care. Such areas as health education, oral health, environmental sanitation, and integrated health services are needed to be strengthening. Regarding the community attitudes towards health workers, 41.3 percent of respondents think they are trusted by the community they serve. New areas of concern identified which must be included in future activities of health centers are, in order of priority, health care of elderly population, home health care, rehabilitation services, and such chronic diseases control programs as diabetes, hypertension, school health and mental health care. In conclusion, the study revealed that health workers seemed to have more negative perceptions and attitudes than positive ones towards organization and management of health services and activities performed by the urban health centers where they are engaged. More specifically, the majority of health workers studied revealed to have the following areas of health center's organization and management inadequate or insufficient to support effective performance of their health activities: Namely, physical facilities and equipments required are inadequate; human and financial resources are insufficient; personnel management is unsatisfactory; setting of service target system is unrealistic in terms of the community needs. However, respondents displayed a number of positive perceptions, particularly to those areas as further training needs and implementation of decentralization of government system which will bring more autonomy of local government as they perceived these change would bring the necessary changes to future activities of the health center. They also displayed positive perceptions in their job autonomy and have job satisfactions.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2020

Background: Multicultural families are constantly on the rise as marriage migrants and foreign workers increase. Multicultural families appear to record poor health levels compared to native families. As health is a social issue, children of surviving generations of multicultural families are also a growing interest. This study was conducted to confirm the effect of multicultural families and parents' educational level on the scaling experience of children. Methods: For this study, the 2016~2018 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey data were used. In order to make the two groups of adolescents belonging to multicultural and native families similar, a total of 5,362 people were included in the survey, consisting of 2,681 individuals each from multicultural and native families using the propensity score matching method. Logistic analysis was performed to identify factors influencing the scaling experience of adolescent children. Results: The results confirm that, even after controlling for factors such as parents' educational level, household income, and children's oral health behavior, parents' nationality appeared to have a statistically significant effect on their children's scaling experience. In addition, it was confirmed that the experience of oral health education had a significant effect. Conclusion: Cultural heterogeneity and the lack of adequate language ability of immigrants affects health behavior and medical accessibility. Therefore, children from multicultural families are more likely to be exposed to unhealthy environments compared to the children of native Korean families. Based on an understanding of the socioeconomic multicultural background of individuals, education and public policy should be prepared to improve the awareness for the need for preventive oral health and provide unhindered accessibility to dental services.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.322-334
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• 2007

This study covers the investigation of the actual condition in the workplace to produce plastics products using synthetic resins and the investigation on the trends amount of the domestic production of thermoplastic resins. To analyze the monomers included in thermoplastic resins frequently used in the workplace, we analyzed thermal characteristics for test compounds using thermogravimetric analysis and did the qualitative analysis using Pyrolyzer GC-MSD & TDS GC-MSD. And then we classified the health hazard of monomers based on GHS classification criteria using information toxicity & carcinogenicity. The number of the workplace to produce plastics products among all domestic manufacturers of 73,884 was 4,391 (5.94%). The number of workers to produce plastics products among all workers of 2,522,750 in all domestic manufacturers was 104,971 (4.16%). The amount of production per year for thermoplastic resins is in the order of PP, HDPE, LDPE, PVC, ABS, PS and such compounds was producing over 1 Million ton per year each. The classification result based on GHS classification criteria for 22 main compounds included thermoplastic resins says 2 compounds of acrylonitrile, naphthalene are in Acute oral category 3 and benzene is in Acute dermal category 1. The classification results of health hazard of carcinogenicity based on IARC & ACGIH carcinogen classification says 2 compounds of benzene, vinyl chloride are in category 1A (known to be human carcinogens).

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.60-65
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• 2021

Dental health care workers (DHCW) are at a risk of occupational exposure to Helicobacter pylori from the aerosolized oral biofilms and saliva of patients. We designed this study to investigate the prevalence of H. pylori in the oral biofilms of a group of dental and non-dental undergraduates from Sri Lanka. After obtaining informed consent, oral biofilms were collected from 38 dental undergraduates (19 males and 19 females) undergoing clinical training and 33 non-dental undergraduates (14 males and 19 females). The participants were in the age range of 22-27 years and had healthy periodontium. Total DNA from the oral biofilms were extracted, and H. pylori DNA was detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of 16S rRNA gene of H. pylori using JW22-JW23 primers, and the results were confirmed using PCR amplification of H. pylori-urease specific HPU1-HPU2 primers. Out of 71 participants, 11 (28.95%) dental and 3 (9.09%) non-dental undergraduates had H. pylori in their oral biofilms indicating an overall prevalence rate of 19.72% (14/71). Thus, the prevalence of H. pylori in oral biofilms was significantly higher in dental undergraduates than in non-dental undergraduates (p < 0.05). An odds ratio of 4.07 indicated that dental undergraduates were four times more likely to harbor H. pylori in their oral biofilms than non-dental undergraduates. Foregoing data support the fact that there may be greater occupational risk of exposure to H. pylori for dental undergraduates during clinical training than that for non-dental undergraduates, warranting meticulous infection control practices during clinical dentistry.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.368-377
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• 1994

In order to investigate the oral health status including dental erosion, the authors had surveyed and oral examined 510 male workers, among whom 199 workers were exposed to acids and 311 were not exposed to acids, in a factory using acids during the period from November, 26 to 27 in 1992. The obtained results were as follows ; 1. The positive rate of dental erosion between the acid exposed and non-exposed group didn't show statistical difference. But the positive rate of degree 1 dental erosion by degree was statistically high in the acid exposed group(P<0.05). 2. The acid exposed group showed the higher positive rate of degree 1 dental erosion in lower incisors by site(P<0.01). 3. To the average number of eroded teeth, the acid exposed group showed more degree 1 eroded teeth in lower incisors than the non-exposed(P<0.05). 4. Although the rate of dental erosion was increased according to the increase in tenure in both exposed and non-exposed group(P<0.05), there was no difference in rate of the dental erosion by site among the same tenure group. 5. In the acid exposed group, the rate of dental erosion between protective mask wearer group and non-wearer group was not statistically different, but upper incisors of the protective mask wearer group showed lower rate of dental erosion by site(P<0.05). 6. The positive rate of periodontal diseases was higher in the acid exposed group(P<0.01).

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.705-719
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to look into the health insurance systems and application in Korea and Japan in order to improve elderly people's quality of life. Their quality of life can be improved by upgrading the long term care systems; and extending treatment and prevention. Methods: This study is to examine long term care systems articles through content analysis in the National Health Insurance Service. Data were collected from the printed Internet and analyzed. Results: A part-time dentist system in elderly care facilities has trouble in taking care of old people's oral health due to both lack of time and operational difficulties. It is urgent to arrange dental experts who can permanently stay in care facilities and to build systems which can be managed periodically and continually. Conclusions: As having staff training for the efficiency and using the manpower in care facilities (care workers), it is necessary to solve the unequal medical service in oral health care for the elderly in Korea.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.307-317
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• 2009

A growing interest in management and treatment for patients with temporomandibular disorder(TMD) by many health workers, including oriental medicine doctors, physical therapists as well as dentists, have been noted in South Korea. Some of these health workers claim correlation between dental occlusion, TMD, and systemic symptoms such as tinnitus, dizziness, neck pain, myalgia, low back pain, posture and many other systemic symptoms and many controversial treatments are being carried out on bases of theories and reasons with no strong scientific evidence. This article is a result of preliminary study by authors in gathering scientific data on few of these various treatment modalities for TMD using MEDLINE data, internet and tutorials given by those who are using these TMD treatment methods. The modalities that had been searched are as follows; (1) Craniosacral mechanism (2) Osteopathy (3) Myodontics (4) Chirodontics (5) Dental Distress Syndrome and Quadrant Theorem. An outline of those theories will be introduced, and the contents in detail for respective theory will be reported in the following articles.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.239-242
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• 2004

This study examined the detection rate of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in serum and saliva samples, respectively, from 120 dental patients who were unaware if they have or had either hepatitis or tuberculosis. The frequencies of HBsAg and anti-HBs were determined using an immunochromatic assay. Mtb positivity was determined by the PCR method. Of the 120 patients, 7 (5.8％) were HBV positive and 30 (25.0％) were Mtb positive. This highlights the fact that dental health care workers (DHCWs) can be exposed to the risk of infection from blood- or saliva-borne pathogens as a consequence of their work. Therefore, it is very important to prevent cross infection between patients and dental personnel. Accordingly, laboratory tests prior to surgical treatment are needed to determine the infectious state of dental patients in order to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases in dental clinics.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.531-538
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• 2009

This study examined the musculoskeletal symptom experience rate of some dental clinic workers and the factors influencing musculoskeletal symptoms according to their working environment and health habit. To that end, between March 9 and March 28, 2009, 200 workers at dental clinics in Chungcheong-do were surveyed using the self-administered questionnaire method. The data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN 12.0 program. The following conclusion was reached. 1. One-year musculoskeletal symptom experience rates of the subjects were categorized according to pans of the body: shoulders - 60.5%, lower limbs (legs, knees, and feet) - 57.0%, the lumbar region (back and waist) - 56.0%, the neck - 51.0% and the upper limbs (arms, wrists, and fingers) - 32.0%. 2. In general characteristics, a statistically significant difference was found according to gender, age, education, position, and oral health state. In working environments, a statistically significant difference was found according to work experience, the average daily number of patients handled, the average daily working hours, the posture for diagnosis, and satisfaction over work. In health habit, a statistically significant difference was found according to regular exercise, regular examination, and regular eating habit. 3. Factors influencing musculoskeletal symptoms were examined. As a result, influencing the musculoskeletal symptom experience were satisfaction over work among working environment characteristics, and regular exercise among health habit characteristics.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.533-538
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• 2012

Background: Tobacco cessation would provide the most immediate benefits of tobacco control to prevent tobacco related disease morbidity and mortality. Methods: A tobacco cessation program involving individual and group behavior therapy was implemented in three stages at a worksite. Tobacco quit rates were assessed at the end of each contact session. Results: Out of the 291 tobacco users identified, 224 participated in the tobacco cessation interventions. At the end of three interventions, 38 (17%) users had successfully quit tobacco use. Presence of clinical oral pre-cancer lesion was found to be associated with quitting (p=0.02). Also tobacco users with oral pre-cancer lesions were around three times more likely to quit than those with no lesions (OR= 2.70 95% C.I= 1.20 - 6.05). Conclusion: Cost effective multi-pronged tobacco cessation approaches, inbuilt into other occupational health and welfare activities, are acceptable and feasible to achieve long term sustainable tobacco cessation programs at worksites.