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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