Objective

To analyze association between dental pain, use of dental services and school absenteeism in Brazilian adolescents.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study with data from the National School Health Survey (PeNSE 2015). The study’s dependent variable was school absenteeism due to health reasons in the last 12 months. Socioeconomic characteristics, dental pain and use of dental services were the independent variables evaluated. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).

Results

Data on 102,072 schoolchildren were included. Absenteeism prevalence due to health reasons was 53.7% (95%CI 53.2;54.3). In the adjusted analysis, there was association between dental pain and school absenteeism (OR=1.35 - 95%CI 1.26;1.45), and an increase in absenteeism occurrence the greater the number of dental visits.

Conclusion

The results suggest that dental pain and frequency of dental visits may be related to school absenteeism.

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