As this year’s National Children’s Dental Health Month draws to a close (incidentally, February is also National Pet Dental Month; we leave you to draw your own conclusions), here are a few facts from a study on the relationship of oral health, school attendance and performance recently published in the American Journal of Public Health:

• Kids with poor oral health were 3x more likely to miss school because of dental pain.
• Kids who missed school because of dental pain tended to do worse in school than kids who did not.
• Kids who missed school for routine care showed no drop in academic performance.

The takeaway?

These findings suggest that improving children’s oral health status may be a vehicle to enhancing their educational experience.

All the more reason to teach your kids good dental hygiene at home and make sure they see a dentist regularly for exams and cleanings.