How Forensic Dentistry Can Help in Fighting Child Abuse

Academic Paper from the year 2019 in the subject Medicine - Dentistry, , language: English, abstract: This work analysis how dentists can help detecting child abuse since most of the abuse injuries occur in the head and neck. As a oral care professional it is their duty to detect such abuses at an early stage to prevent further harm to the child and counseling of abusive caretaker. Reported cases of child abuse and corporal punishment, both new and under management and treatment, require continual monitoring.

The involvement of dentists in child protection teams would be beneficial in two ways: Dentists would become aware of their role and would assist in the training of physicians and other professionals. In turn, non-dental practitioners would benefit from consultations with dentists in the evaluation of physical and sexual abuse or neglect, especially those dentists who have experience or expertise with children.

Child abuse and neglect issues are common in almost all countries at the global level such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, abandonment and increasingly, problems of street children. Child abuse and the harsh corporal punishment of children have been historically documented through the ages, the presently recognized magnitude of the problem and the increased awareness among the medical and paramedical sciences, law enforcement agencies and judicial system have fostered recent efforts to correct this blight upon our modern civilized societies.