School Performance and Oral Health Conditions: Analysis of the Impact Mediated by Socio-economic Factors

Background: Oral problems can cause strong impact on functional, emotional, and social aspects of children and adolescents, as well as changes in school performance.

Aim: To evaluate the associations of subjective perceptions of parents, socio-economic factors, and oral clinical conditions of children with their school performance.

Design: A case-control design was used with a sample of 1411 schoolchildren aged 8-10 years from city of Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. Clinical conditions were evaluated using the DMFT and dmft indexes. Socio-economic data were obtained using a questionnaire sent to schoolchildren's parents. School performance was evaluated by the final scores of each schoolchild at the end of the 2011 school year.

Results: According to the final logistic regression model, the schoolchildren who had carious lesions and underwent curative dental treatment at the beginning of the academic year presented 1.51 more chance of having low performance compared with schoolchildren who had no caries lesions. In addition, socio-economic and demographic variables were associated with a greater chance of poor school performance.

Conclusion: Socio-economic factors and presence of caries lesions, even if treated, were risk indicators for poor school performance.