Dentists urged to report child abuse

Cape Town - An article recently published in the South African Dental Journal has sent out a clear message to professionals in the industry: dentists have an important role to play in detecting and reporting child abuse.

A team of researchers, led by Dr Nadia Mohamed of the Department of Paediatric Dentistry at the University of the Western Cape, said that by “raising awareness of the warning signs of abuse”, dental professionals would be empowered to play a more active role in the prevention thereof.

The report said there was a need for increased awareness of dentists’ legal and ethical responsibility to report cases of suspected or known abuse.

It said that “dentists will not be held liable if reports of suspected abuse are fair and based on reasonable grounds”, but that, “if they fail to report a suspected case of abuse, they can be held legally responsible”.

According to the Children’s Act, reporting cases of suspected abuse is considered mandatory and “failure to report it is a breach of the law”.

Symptoms to look out for included peri-oral injuries (injuries around the mouth), and intra-oral injuries (injuries within the mouth).

Peri-oral could include bruising, or the “leathery appearance of skin near the corners of the mouth” which could indicate gagging with a cloth or rope.

Intra-oral injuries, says the report, could be caused by forcing hands or fingers into the mouth, forced feeding using bottles or eating utensils, and the use of caustic substances or scalding liquids.

Fractures to the jaw or skull were also injuries that a dentist would be in a position to take note of and, said a statement from the South African Dental Association, “These are just some of the shocking indicators of abuse.”

Mohamed said that last week, she was faced with a case where a young girl with cerebral palsy came into the hospital.

“She was severely malnourished, and in her mouth were many abscesses and other dental problems. This was a severe case of neglect and she was admitted to the hospital by a social worker.”

But, she adds: “While cases like this are horrific and it is very clear”, there are many other cases where it is not so overt and, “as dentists, because we deal with the head and neck region, and because we can monitor behaviour over a long time, we are in a good position to look for symptoms.”

It is, however, a “touchy subject” which is why, as a paediatric dentist, she wished to conduct research and get the message out to fellow practitioners who were not always sure how to proceed if they found suspicious symptoms.

The literature has shown that dentists do not often report cases of abuse and that there are many reasons for this, including a fear of getting involved, of confrontation with an angry parent, of legal involvement, and a loss of patients and income. Other reasons included embarrassment of broaching the subject.

Cape Times