This study investigated whether oral health status is associated with work stress. 164 male workers aged from 35 to 44 years, equally distributed over four socio-economic groups took part in the study. Three work characteristics related to stress were studied: mental demand, control and variety. Age, socio-economic status, sugar consumption, frequency of dental attendance, toothbrushing frequency, type of toothpaste used, years of residence in Belo Horizonte and marital quality were considered in the data analysis. The results of simple regression analysis (dental caries data) and simple logistic regression analysis (periodontal data) showed a significant relationship between periodontal health status and work-related mental demand (P < 0.001), marital quality (P < 0.01) and socio-economic status (P < 0.05). Dental caries status was significantly associated with age (P < 0.001), socio-economic status (P < 0.05), sugar consumption (P < 0.01) and marital quality (P < 0.0001). Socio-economic status did not remain significantly associated with dental caries after adjusting for all the variables studied.