Relationship between Child Oral Health and Adult Level of Education

Methods: Data were derived from the 2005-2006 Life Course Approach to Oral Health Inequalities study, a follow-up study of a cohort recruited into the Child Fluoride Study (CFS) in 1991-1992. The current analysis includes a sample of 24- to 34-year-old South Australians (n=1608) recruited into the CFS between the ages of 7 to 17 years.  The main explanatory variable originated from the CFS questionnaire in which parents were asked if the child ever had a toothache. Given the dependent variable consisted of three ordinal education levels (year 11 or less; completed year 12/certificate/diploma/trade; bachelor or higher), cumulative logit models (ordinal logistic regression) were run to obtain proportionate odds ratios. SAS 9.3 was used for the analysis.

Results: The crude association between having experienced toothache as a child and adult educational level yielded a proportionate odds ratio of 1.36 (95%CI: 1.10, 1.70) and remained significant after controlling for sex, maternal/female caregiver education, childhood household income and childhood caries experience (total burden of disease: dmft+DMFT) with a prevalence odds ratios of 1.43 (95%CI: 1.11, 1.83).

Conclusions: The results of this study on the social impact of dental disease suggest a relationship between child oral health and adult educational status. Childhood and adolescence could be considered sensitive periods for learning and development; experiencing pain due to dental disease during this window may impact future educational levels.