Pain can keep you up at night, it can distract you from doing your job and it can keep you away from work. Now, just imagine if you are a child and your job is to go to school? Of course dental pain could affect how you perform in school, right?

Well, that’s just what a new study by the Ostrow School of Dentistry at USC reviewed. The study found some amazing results.

Kids who reported having recent tooth pain were found to be four times more likely to have a low grade point average—when compared to children without oral pain.

But poor oral health wasn’t just connected to poor grades. Dental problems also seemed to cause more absences from school for kids and more missed work for parents.

In fact, the students missed more than 2 days due to dental problems. Also, parents missed an average of 2.5 days of work per year to care for children with dental problems.

With results like that, it is clear that dental pain can impact school performance. So next time you take your kids to the dentist – know that you are helping them be better students as well.