Abstract
Objective: Malocclusion has been reported to affect the daily lives of schoolchildren adversely, but little is known regarding the association between malocclusion and academic performance. We aimed to investigate the association between malocclusion and academic performance among adolescents in Mongolia.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 767 students aged 7–16 years from two public schools in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Three orthodontists evaluated the need for malocclusion treatment in the participants and determined the type of malocclusion using the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need and dental casts. The academic scores of study participants in 20 subjects were provided by their schools. Z-scores within subjects were calculated and aggregated into both overall and in six groups of subject categories comprised of mathematics, science, social science, language, arts, and physical education. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the association between malocclusion, malocclusion type, and academic score adjusted for gender, age, school, and family income.Results: Of the 767 students, 32.6% had malocclusion, and dental crowding was the most prevalent type (162 cases, 21.1%). Malocclusion was not significantly associated with the z-score of overall academic score [coefficient: 0.04, 95% confidence interval (CI): −0.11 to 0.19]; however, dental crowding was significantly associated with the overall academic score (coefficient: −0.19, 95% CI: −0.35 to −0.03), after adjusting for covariates. Other types of malocclusion were not associated with academic scores. Among the six subject categories, arts (coefficient: −0.20, 95% CI: −0.36 to −0.04) and physical education (coefficient: −0.24, 95% CI: −0.42 to −0.07) were significantly associated with dental crowding.Conclusions: Schoolchildren in Mongolia with dental crowding may be prone to poor academic performance, particularly in arts and physical education classes. Further randomized controlled trials are needed to determine whether the treatment of crowding boosts academic performance.
Highlights
Higher academic performance predicts socioeconomic status in adulthood [1]
Various factors determine the academic performance of students; these factors can be divided into three categories: socioeconomic, environmental, and the student’s individual factors [2]
A chi-squared test revealed no significant association between the above demographic characteristics and the presence of malocclusion with the need for orthodontic treatment
Summary
Higher academic performance predicts socioeconomic status in adulthood [1]. Various factors determine the academic performance of students; these factors can be divided into three categories: socioeconomic, environmental, and the student’s individual factors [2]. Health status is included in the student’s individual factors [2], and a significant body of research has demonstrated that student health determines academic achievement in school [3, 4]. Student health factors, such as body mass index (BMI) [5], quality and duration of sleep [6], diabetes [7], consumption of sweets [8], and depression [9], have been found to be associated with academic performance. A cross-sectional study of 2,871 schoolchildren in North Carolina suggested that the improvement of children’s oral health may be a way to improve their educational experience [15]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
