Temporary employment and tooth loss: a cross-sectional study from the J-SHINE study

BACKGROUND Temporary employment leads to psychological distress and higher mortality, but data on its associations with oral health is limited. We examined whether having the experience of temporary employment was associated with tooth loss among working adults in Japan. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study from the 2010-2011 Japanese Study on Stratification, Health, Income, and Neighborhood study that analyzed 2652 participants aged 25-50 years (men = 1394; women = 1258). Independent variable was changes in employment status (continuous regular employment and the experience of temporary employment). Dependent variable was self-reported tooth loss (none, 1 tooth, 2 teeth, 3 teeth, 4 teeth, and more than 4 teeth). Covariates were sex, age, years of education, self-rated household economic status in early life at 5 years old, marital status, number of family members in the household, history of diabetes, and body mass index. We conducted a negative binomial regression analysis to estimate prevalence rate ratios (PRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) for tooth loss. We also confirmed the interaction term between changes in employment status and sex. RESULTS The median age of the participants was 37 years. The percentages of men and women who experienced temporary employment were 14.5% and 61.3%, respectively. Compared with continuous regular employment, the experience of temporary employment was significantly associated with tooth loss in both sexes after adjusting for the covariates (men: PRR = 1.50 [95%CI = 1.13, 2.00]; women: PRR = 1.42 [95%CI = 1.14, 1.76]). The interaction term between employment status and sex was not significant (p = 0.71). CONCLUSIONS Temporary employment is adversely associated with oral health.