Journal article
Oral Health and Academic Achievement of Children in Low-Income Families
Journal of dental research / International Association for Dental Research, and American Association for Dental Research, Vol.101(11), pp.1314-1320
10/2022
DOI: 10.1177/00220345221089602
PMCID: PMC9516629
PMID: 35426350
Abstract
Low-income children have higher rates of unmet oral health needs. Prior research suggests that poor oral health is associated with lower academic performance but uses cross-sectional and mostly parent-reported measures. This study examined the association between oral health during the first 5 y of life and subsequent academic achievement for low-income children. Birth certificates of children born in Iowa in 1999-2009 were linked to Medicaid enrollment and dental claims data in 1999-2014 and reading and math standardized school test scores for grades 2 through 11. The following oral health measures were examined: having minor dental treatments (mostly surface fillings), major dental treatments (mostly crowns and pulpotomy) or extractions, and comprehensive dental exams during the first 5 y of life. Regression models were estimated adjusting for sociodemographic factors, early infant health, and school district effects. The sample included 28,859 children and 127,464 child-grade observations. In total, 21%, 12%, and 62% of children had at least 1 minor dental treatment, 1 major treatment or extraction, and 1 comprehensive dental exam in the first 5 y of life, respectively. Children who received a minor dental treatment had higher reading and math scores by 1 percentile (95% CI, 0.09-1.9) and 0.9 percentiles (95% CI, 0.02-1.8), respectively. Children who had a major dental treatment or extraction had lower reading and math scores by 2.4 (95% CI, -3.5 to -1.4) and 1.8 (95% CI, -2.8 to -0.8) percentiles. Children who had a comprehensive oral exam had higher reading and math scores by 0.7 (95% CI, 0.06-1.4) and 1.2 (95% CI, 0.6-1.9) percentiles. The findings suggest that children's oral health before school age is associated with academic achievement later during school years.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Oral Health and Academic Achievement of Children in Low-Income Families
- Creators
- G L Wehby - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of dental research / International Association for Dental Research, and American Association for Dental Research, Vol.101(11), pp.1314-1320
- DOI
- 10.1177/00220345221089602
- PMID
- 35426350
- PMCID
- PMC9516629
- NLM abbreviation
- J Dent Res
- ISSN
- 0022-0345
- eISSN
- 1544-0591
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000072, name: National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, award: 1R03DE026224
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 04/15/2022
- Date published
- 10/2022
- Academic Unit
- Preventive and Community Dentistry; Health Management and Policy; Economics; Public Policy Center (Archive)
- Record Identifier
- 9984244593902771
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