Dental Aspects of Child Abuse- although not reported as widely as it should be. It is ethically and legally important to consider the early signs from dental abuse as a flag to other forms of abuse the child may be facing. The law does not punish carers for dental neglect at this stage but it is paramount for the law makers to re look at the legislation so that children do not have to endure dental pain which has lot of psychological effects on the child and also limits their nutritional intake . The early loss of baby teeth further compromises occlusion of the child and creates aesthetic problems which means the child is embrassed to smile. Just trying to highlight this to fellow course participants as often dental abuse is not recorded as it is not considered life threatening
http://www.nzda.org.nz/pub/resources/a_dentalAspChildAbuse_Nov06.pdf
Hi Arish,
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing this out to us. I am sure we all have seen it but possibly have not realised so clearly that a child's bad teeth amount to dental abuse.
The impact of bad teeth is huge and it has always baffled me why a person would want to have their teeth deteriorate to a state where they become a 'pain' in more than one sense. The more one fears the dentist, the more one should brush. Especially, if a parent has gone through the experience, why woudln't they want to help their children avoid the same mistake? Sometimes I wonder, is having bad teeth a sign of a general attitude of not caring and possibly extending to include others than oneself too? And if so, why would they not want to care for themselves (or their children)?
Cheerio r
yes robert, that astounds me as well that parents with bad teeth dont care for their childrens either. could be the perception or attitutde or sheer laziness. I do not want to judge and yes socio economic status plays a part but when does parental responsibility kick in ??
ReplyDeleteHi Arish
ReplyDeleteThanks for raising this issue. I am aware in HB we have particularly poor dental hygiene among children and know this is an issue being focused on by the DHB. Poverty does play a part, but also role modelling - if the parent was never taught the habit of teeth cleaning it is unlikely that they will teach their child. Cleaning teeth also does suggest that the family life has routines, and we know that many families live chaotic lives (no bedtime etc). I am so pleased you raised this issue. thanks
certianly parental engagement is the way to go with any preventable disease associated with childre.
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