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You are getting your children ready to go back to school and buying pencils, pens and fun notebooks. But have you considered preparing your child’s teeth for the first day of school?
A recent report in the American Journal of Public Health states that poor oral health and tooth pain can put children at a disadvantage in school. Researchers analyzed around 1,500 socioeconomically disadvantaged school children in the Los Angeles Unified School District and matched their oral health with their academic achievement and attendance records.
Through the study, they discovered that poor oral health not only results in lower grades, but also more absences from school. On average, elementary school kids missed six days per year, and high schoolers missed 2.6 days. For elementary students, 2.1 days were related to dental problems, and for high schoolers, 2.3 days were because of dental issues.
The findings prove that dental health problems are a large factor in school absences, and parents also miss around 2.5 days of work per year helping care for their children with dental issues.
Researchers recommend that oral health programs be integrated more into school-based health, educational and social programs. They also hope to do more research on the U.S. population to see how oral disease affects the whole nation.
The Lakeway Center for Cosmetic and Family Dentistry wants to do all we can to ensure your child has good dental care, so nothing will stop them from succeeding in school. Contact us today to make a back-to-school check-up appointment for your child.