The ‘WHO’ oral health proforma -1997 was used to record the demographic information and clinical findings [2]. The proforma was comprised of questions like age, gender, marital status, income, educational qualifications of the subjects and it also contained questions which pertained to oral hygiene practices of the study subjects, like frequency of brushing, any type of deleterious habits, cleansing aid which was used, etc. Dental examination was conducted in the bus depot by using additional artificial light. For the diagnosis of dental caries, a WHO type III examination was done by using mouth mirrors and sharp probes [3].

The data were analyzed by using SPSS package, version 13.0. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Z-test were used to determine differences at a 5 percent significance level (p<0.05), whereas proportions were compared by using the Chi-square test. p-values of < 0.05 were considered to denote statistical significance.

Mean age of subjects was 45.3± 7.8 years. Maximum numbers of subjects (45.3+1.3= 46.6) were present in 41-50 year age-group [Table/Fig-1]. A total of 97% (978) males and 3% (30) females were interviewed and examined.

[Table/Fig-1]:

Distribution of study population by age and gender

A majority of the subjects (55.4%, 558) were educated till high school, 12.6% (127) were graduates and 2.7% (27) were post graduates.

80.2% (808) of the subjects were not consuming tobacco in any form. Maximum number of subjects who used to smoke and chew tobacco (12.5% and 5%) belonged to the age group of 41-50 years [Table/Fig-2].

[Table/Fig-2]:

Age wise tobacco habits of study population

Regarding brushing habits, 88.7% of the subjects used to brush their teeth at least once a day, 9.8% (99) of the subjects brushed their teeth twice a day, while 0.6% (6) of the subjects never used to brush their teeth. While 2.8% (28) of the subjects used toothbrushes and toothpowder [Table/Fig-3]. 79.3% (96) of the smokers brushed their teeth at least once a day, as compared to 14% (17) of the smokers who brushed their teeth twice daily.

[Table/Fig-3]:

Various oral hygiene aids used by the study subjects

Mean DMFT of the study population was 5.02. Mean numbers of decayed and missing teeth were 1.67 ± 2.16 and 1.46 ± 2.84, respectively and their relationship with age was found to be statistically significant (p<0.01, ANOVA). Mean number of teeth which required one surface filling, two surface fillings and extractions were 0.26 ± 0.74, 0.36 ± 0.72 and 1.1 ± 1.81 respectively [Table/Fig-4a,b] [1]. Subjects who brushed their teeth once a day had higher mean numbers of decayed (1.72) and missing teeth caused by caries (1.47), than subjects who brushed their teeth twice a day (1.56 and 1.26 respectively) [Table/Fig-5]. Mean number of teeth which required extractions were higher in subjects who brushed their teeth once a day, as compared to those seen in subjects who brushed their teeth twice a day. Proportionally, more elderly than younger adults needed extractions, and caries was the major indication for extractions in all age groups.

In India, there is no national oral health service as there are in other developed countries. Although the government provides formal medical care in the form of primary health centres and community health centres, there is no provision for dental care.

A majority of the study subjects of the present study were not using tobacco and related products, which was contrary to the findings of some other study which was conducted elsewhere in India [4]. According to reports of another studies which had been conducted on health care employees, more number of subjects used to smoke tobacco as compared to that seen in the present study [5,6]. Almost all the subjects in the present study brushed their teeth at least once in a day, which was similar to the results of a study which was conducted in Libya [7] but in the present study, a higher number of smokers used to brush their teeth. Reports of another study conducted on university employees revealed that 68% of the subjects used to brush their teeth more than once daily ,which was much higher than that seen in the present study [8]. This study revealed that more than 80% of the study subjects used toothbrushes to brush their teeth; this is in agreement with findings of a study which was conducted by Patil et al., [9]. This could be attributed to the superior plaque control of toothbrushes, as the bristles of the toothbrushes could reach inter proximal areas as well as pits and fissures of teeth. A statistically significant difference was found with respect to the no. of missing teeth, which was caused by caries, between those who brushed once and those who brushed twice daily, in the present study. This was contrary to findings of Patil et al., [9]. Another study found that 29% of operational engineers used to smoke cigarettes, which was more than that which was seen in the present study [10].

Also, a much lower DMFT was found among the municipal employees of Mysore city as compared to those seen in participants of the present study [11]. According to another study which was conducted in Malaysia, a higher prevalence of dental caries and a higher mean DMFT were recorded among the subjects [12]. Percentage of subjects who had at least one decayed surface in the present study, was almost similar to that seen in some other study which was conducted in southern Illinois [13]. The frequency of decayed teeth and average DMFT in the study population were very less as compared to the findings seen among some mill workers [14]. Mean number of teeth which were missing due to caries was higher in the present study, as compared to that seen in another study which was conducted on government employees [15]. The mean number of teeth which were lost per worker showed a significant increasing trend with age, which was similar to findings of other studies [9,16,17].

Gordon et al., [18] reported in his study that oral surgical needs increased with age and that the older group required more treatment than the younger age-group, which were in agreement with the findings of this study also. This could be due to lack of time for dental treatment and accumulation of treatment needs over a period of time, which were faced by older age groups.

The present study found higher DMFT values among the transport employees. Moreover, caries was a major indication in all age groups. The present study had some limitations. No previous data was available, which was comparable with ours; therefore, the findings of the present study were compared with those of studies done on factory and industrial workers and other employees who worked in similar environments. As permission was granted by the transport authorities to undertake the present study from 9 AM-4 PM; we were not able to enroll those subjects in our study, who reported before and after the study timings. Reducing inequality in oral health between different socio-economic groups in developing countries, has been among the major global goals which have been set for oral health. People of low socio-economic statuses and those who were Below Poverty Line (BPL) realize their lack of expertise in the technical and scientific aspects of health care, but they want a real control in matters of priority, delivery of care, and perhaps, even personnel selection. When any dental awareness programme or campaign is being planned priority should be given to the people who have higher prevalences of dental diseases and unmet treatment needs. This can be done effectively by combining government and multinational initiatives for spreading oral awareness among such populations. Considering the cost of the campaign, if it is often the biggest consideration and limitation when a campaign is being organized, the involvement of different stakeholders in cost sharing would be beneficial.

Transport workers should be educated about oral symptoms, in an effort to forestall or avert the earliest clinical manifestations of disease. Larger studies of this kind are needed, as the results of the present study represent only a section of the transport workers.