Painful Teeth Keep Kids Awake, Distract Them in School
They're irritable, can't concentrate, and their teachers are wondering about learning problems when they should be asking the children whether their mouths hurt.
It sounds obvious, but in the list of variables that affect schoolchildren's learning, painful cavities are relative newcomers. Parents and teachers have been told to troubleshoot student distraction with everything from vision tests to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) screenings, but a trip to a dentist might be in order.
"Pain in the mouth can keep kids awake at night, distract them in class, keep them from playing with their friends and make it difficult for them to eat," said Dr. Jed Jacobson, vice president of Professional Services and dental director at Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. "If a child is distracted by sneezing from hay fever or the trauma of asthma attacks, physicians can intervene with various treatments. The Surgeon General has pointed out that tooth decay is more common than either of these conditions, and we can and should treat it too," Dr. Jacobson said.
Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease — five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever, according to the Surgeon General's report, Oral Health in America, which was released in 2000.
Meanwhile, a study1 released at the end of 2002 reports that 47 percent of the 35,938 children in the study did not receive the generally recommended dental visits. The researchers speculated that parents might not know or understand the recommended guidelines for dental checkups.
Reclaiming millions of lost hours of schooling
The Surgeon General's report also stated that more than 51 million school hours are lost to
dental-related illness each year. When dental problems are treated and children are no longer in pain, both their learning and school attendance improve, according to the American Journal of Public Health.
"In addition to scheduling regular checkups, parents can periodically check their children's
mouths for signs of periodontal disease, including bleeding, swollen and/or bright red gums,
persistent bad breath and gums that have receded from the teeth," Dr. Jacobson said.
1.)Pediatrics 2002; 110:e73
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