Before the commencement of the study, information regarding the glass factories in Jaipur was obtained and it was found that there was only one glass factory in the city. Thus, we selected that factory. Thereafter, list of glass factory workers was obtained from factory authorities. According to the list, there were a total of 1521 workers in the factory. Five hundred and seventy two workers in the factory were on daily wages and thus were excluded. Among the remaining, the workers who gave informed consent were included in the study. Thus, the sample size was achieved to be 936. The examination was made with the aid of a mouth mirror and CPI (Community Periodontal Index) probe according to Type III examination as described by WHO [17].

The noted data was compiled and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and SPSS version 19 respectively. The description included computation of percentages, means and standard deviations. The appropriate statistical tests applied were Pearson’s chi-square test (χ²), t-test, One-way Analysis of Variance and Stepwise multiple linear Regression analysis. Confidence interval and p-value were set at 95% and ≤ 0.05 respectively.

Of the total 936 subjects in the survey, most of them were males with majority of the population in the age group of 30-39 years. The mean age of the study population was 36.06 ± 7.18 [Table/Fig-1].

Most of the glass factory workers had their education till primary level. Most of the workers were employed in the factory for more than 5 years [Table/Fig-2].

The prevalence of consumption of smoking tobacco i.e. cigarettes and beedi was seen among the working population and it was found to be 71.90 %. Statistically significantly, beedi smoking was most prevalent among population. Significant association was found among gender and tobacco usage with more number of males (78.69 %) using tobacco [Table/Fig-3]. The results depicted the frequency of adverse habits (alcohol consumption) among the study population with majority of subjects not consuming in the past 30 days [Table/Fig-4].

The results illustrated that majority of the population suffered from enamel erosion with highest prevalence in males of 40-49 year age group. The prevalence of dental erosion in males was highest among subjects in 20-29 year age group with mean number of affected teeth (3.25 ± 6.11) [Table/Fig-5].

The results also stimulated stepwise multiple linear regression analysis with dental erosion as the dependent variables and various independent variables. The best predictors in the descending order for tooth wear were years of experience, educational status, and adverse habits with variances of 5.7%, 10.9% and 16.7% respectively [Table/Fig-6].

Various studies on the tooth wear status of the general population have been carried out in various workplaces however; to date; very little information is available on the dental health of glass factory workers. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first study undertaken to evaluate the tooth wear status of glass factory workers in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The study population was in the age range of 20-69 years with majority of males. Demographics of the study population showed that major proportion of the study participants were Hindus (95.01%) with educational status till primary level (85.58%) which reveals that the glass factory workers might not have adequate knowledge about oral and occupational health. This is in accordance with the findings of Petersen et al., [14] who also reported a low level of education among Danish granite industry workers and hence, suffered from tooth wear more. Around half of the population was working in the factory from last 5-10 years. This inevitably relates with the fact that they will be having more exposure of glass dust compared to the workers who are working in the factory from less than 5 years. These findings can be correlated with the findings of Vizcaya et al., Zeleke et al., and Kelada F, Euinton LE who confirmed increased risk among workers serving for a longer period of time in various factories compared to those with less work experience [18–20].

In the present study, prevalence of dental erosion was found to be almost 77 % which was higher than the studies done by Tuominen M et al., Suyama Y et al., and Skogedal O et al., [21–23]. This finding can be a result of insufficient preventive measures to decrease acid exposure or a violation of the governmental regulations concerning maximal tolerable concentration of potentially erosive agents at workplace as stated by Kim HD et al., [24]. Traditionally, wearing masks as personal protective equipment is the most common recommendation for protection from hazardous environment. If workers do not understand the reasons for protection from hazardous environment, they are likely not to receive necessary protection [25] and get exposed to dust exposure like silica in the present study. Possible reasons for not wearing masks being that they are uncomfortable to wear for a longer period of time in hot and humid working conditions. Also, workers who consumed tobacco complained of sensation of tobacco smell while wearing masks. The present study stated that dental erosion was most prevalent in age group of 30-39 years (74.18 %). This can be correlated with the findings by Chikte UM et al., Petersen PE et al., and Fukayo S et al., that more anterior teeth were affected by erosion compared to posterior teeth [10,25,26].

This epidemiological survey has given insight on the information to reinforce the oral health programmes execution. Due to high treatment demands of the study population, the health strategy that highlights oral health promotion and prevention would appear more valuable in addition to old-style curative care.

Because of the busy work schedule of the workers, long distances to travel, lack of time and manpower, it was not possible to conduct a detailed study regarding the oral health care covering the entire glass & pottery factory workers in the city. Also, because of the lack of awareness and language barrier, many responses could not be assessed. Also, because some subjects were using smokeless tobacco, chances of variability are there. The study was cross-sectional in nature, thus we were prevented from drawing implications about causal relationships. So further, longitudinal research including larger population is suggested in order to explore and identify the prevailing aetiological factors like diet responsible for the current scenario.

There is need for a strategy to tackle the problem of lack of general amenities and necessities in the social, cultural and health aspects including its influence on oral health and disease. As a part of professional approach towards the study subjects, regular dental care services should be provided for detection of early symptoms and planning of preventive strategies. A comprehensive care especially in subjects suffering with environmental exposures should be provided.