TABLE 2—
School Absences Resulting From Subjective and Objective Measures of Oral Health (n = 1495): Impact of Oral Health on Children and Parents, Los Angeles County, California, 2008–2009
| Variables | Subjective Measures of Oral Health, No. (%) |
Objective Measures of Oral Health, No. (%) |
Missing School Days Because of Dental Problems, No. (%) | Total No. (%) | ||||||
| Toothache, Present | Toothache, Not Present | Inaccessible Needed Dental Care, Present | Inaccessible Needed Dental Care, Not Present | Cavitated or Noncavitated Caries, Present | Cavitated or Noncavitated Caries, Not Present | Urgent Dental Needs, Present | Urgent Dental Needs, Not Present | |||
| Level of school | ||||||||||
| Elementary | 20 (13.7) | 18 (3.2)*** | 15 (11.9)*** | 35 (6.3) | 5 (2.8) | 6 (6.3) | 34 (5.4) | 40 (52.0) | 781 (52.2) | |
| High | 19 (18.5) | 16 (3.0)*** | 11 (9.7) | 20 (4.0)* | 27 (5.7) | 10 (5.1) | 6 (17.7) | 31 (4.9)** | 37 (48.0) | 714 (47.8) |
| Gender | ||||||||||
| Boy | 13 (12.3) | 14 (2.8)*** | 11 (10.3) | 16 (3.4)** | 23 (4.9) | 6 (3.4) | 4 (6.7) | 25 (4.3) | 29 (37.7) | 689 (46.1) |
| Girl | 26 (18.2) | 20 (3.5)*** | 15 (11.3)** | 39 (6.9) | 9 (4.6) | 8 (11.6) | 40 (5.8) | 48 (62.3) | 806 (53.9) | |
| Race/ethnicity | ||||||||||
| Asian | 3 (7.3) | 2 (1.0)** | 3 (7.9) | 3 (1.5)* | 6 (3.0) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (3.1) | 5 (2.2) | 6 (8) | 269 (18.7) |
| Black | 9 (17.0) | 10 (4.4)*** | 4 (10.3) | 13 (5.3) | 14 (6.8) | 6 (6.7) | 3 (11.1) | 17 (6.4) | 20 (26.7) | 307 (21.3) |
| White Hispanic | 1 (11.1) | 3 (5.9) | 2 (20.0) | 2 (4.4) | 3 (6.3) | 1 (7.7) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (6.9) | 4 (5.3) | 64 (4.4) |
| Other Hispanic | 25 (17.5) | 18 (3.1)*** | 17 (11.6) | 22 (4.1)*** | 37 (6.7) | 8 (3.9) | 8 (12.9) | 37 (5.3)* | 45 (60) | 800 (55.6) |
| Total | 39 (15.7) | 34 (3.1)*** | 26 (10.8) | 41 (3.9)*** | 62 (6.0) | 15 (4.0) | 12 (9.3) | 65 (5.1)* | 77 (5.5) | 1495(100) |
aNinety parents did not answer the question about number of missing school days because of dental problems.
* P < .05; **P < .01; ***P < .001.