Ann Arbor, MI — January 26, 2006 — February is national Children's Dental Health Month, and a new study from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry shows that oral health care professionals, as well as teachers and parents, need to pay closer attention to a child's oral health since it plays a major role in their general health, quality of life, and even academic achievement.

Thousands of Students Studied

For the past two years, Dr. Marita Inglehart and colleagues from the dental school and the department of pediatric dentistry at Mott Children's Health Center in Flint have been collecting data from nearly 4,000 students at 35 kindergarten and elementary schools in Flint and Genesee County. The data has been collected in school-wide oral health screenings, face-to-face interviews with children, questionnaire responses from their teachers, and telephone interviews with more than 500 parents.

Inglehart, an associate professor, said, "There's a tendency to think that if children don't complain, then there is no pain, and nothing is wrong. But we're finding that's not the case. Our study shows that many of these children have major oral health problems that affect their quality of life," she said. "That, in turn, affects their ability to learn in the classroom, make friends, or get along with other students their age."

Teachers Surprised

Inglehart said the study found that more than half of the students had untreated caries. Another ten percent had abscesses and/or "pulpal involvement" (a condition where the cavity was so deep that it went into the nerve of the tooth). More than 17 percent of the children said they had a toothache the day their oral exams were conducted, 35 percent said they had pain when they ate something hot or cold, 31 percent had pain when they chewed, and 23 percent reported pain when they ate something sweet.

"Those pains showed clearly how strongly poor dental health affects their lives in general and, specifically, their ability to achieve academically," Inglehart said.

Twenty percent of the children said a toothache kept them up at night, 13 percent said a toothache kept them home from school at times, and nearly 20 percent said a toothache made it difficult for them to pay attention in the classroom.

She said that teachers were also surprised. "These findings allow us to help teachers recognize how poor oral health problems can affect student learning," she said.

But the problems are more than academic. They also appear to be social.

"Children with bad oral health usually don't smile and have a poor self image. When that happens, it's more difficult for them to make friends and may even make them more liable to be picked on by others," she said.

Other Surprising Discoveries

Inglehart said two findings from the study surprised her. One was discovering how many children share a toothbrush.

She said nearly 20 percent of kindergarten students share a toothbrush with another member of the family. The percentage dropped to about 19 and 15 percent, respectively, by the second and third grade. Not surprisingly, children who shared toothbrushes had poorer oral health than children who did not.

The other surprise was the number of children with jaw joint (TMJ) problems.

"We learned that more than twenty percent of five year olds said they heard clicking when they chewed on the side of their mouth or opened their mouth wide," she said. Those problems could result from rough playing or receiving a blow to the back or side of the head.

When the study is completed, Inglehart hopes to use the findings to give teachers, physicians, nurses, social workers and others new tools and information they can use to help children get the oral health care services they need.

"I also want to see more parents actively involved in the oral health care of their children, especially young, first-time mothers who are 23 years old or younger so that they clearly understand how important good oral health is to their child's general health, their quality of life and, indeed, their academic success," she said.

Collaborating with Inglehart were dental school faculty members Drs. Robert Bagramian, Tilly Peters, and Sven-Erik Widmalm; Dr. Elizabeth Moje, U-M School of Education; Dr. Daniel Briskie, executive director of dentistry at Mott Children's Health Center; Gloria Bourdon, director of the Genesee Intermediate School District's Health, Safety, and Nutrition Services; and Dr. Robert Feigal, former director of pediatric dentistry at the U-M School of Dentistry, now at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry.

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation's leading dental schools engaged in oral health care education, research, patient care, and community service. General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the School to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan. Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists, and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia, and public agencies. Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide. For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu.

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