3.3 Child Abuse and Dental Neglect
Child Abuse—Continued
fact
The Prevent Abuse and Neglect through Dental Awareness (PANDA) coalition was started to address a lack of child abuse and neglect reporting by oral health professionals. PANDA offers educational programs that address topics such as family violence, clinical examples of abuse and neglect, and legal and liability issues involved in family violence interventions. Click here to visit the coalition’s Web site.
Trauma in children is often caused by an adult violently striking the
child’s lips and teeth with the back of the hand or with an implement.
Because children communicate through the mouth, child abuse is often directed
at the mouth. Dental trauma may be an important marker for child abuse
because craniofacial, head, face, and neck injuries occur in more than
half of the cases of child abuse.
Dentofacial trauma may be manifested as avulsed teeth, non-vital teeth,
lip laceration, tongue injuries, frenum injuries, or jaw fractures.
Injuries to the face can be in various forms, including contusions and
echymoses, abrasions and lacerations, burns, bites, and fractures.
Sexual abuse can be manifested as oral lesions from a sexually transmitted disease or as bruising and petechia of the palate from oral sex.
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