Managing child abuse and neglect in dental practice

Child abuse is something we all hope never to see. However, the fact remains that at least one child dies each week, in England and Wales, as a result of abuse or neglect. The General Dental Council, Department of Health and COPDEND are all consistent in their message—child protection is the responsibility of every member of the dental team (General Dental Council, 2005).

So what sort of things should we be looking out for? What signs are suggestive of physical abuse or neglect?

It is important to remember that no injury occurs exclusively in child abuse. However, some are highly suggestive, as can be seen in Figure 1 (Harris et al, 2006). From looking at this illustration it is easy to understand why dental professionals, who examine many of these areas routinely, are very well placed to identify cases of child abuse. In fact, research suggests that oro-facial trauma occurs in at least 50% of children diagnosed with physical abuse (Da Fonseca et al, 1992). Dental care professionals should therefore be alert to these suggestive injuries and follow local safeguarding policies if they are identified.