No abstract

Fifty-nine per cent of physically abused children in the present cohort had orofacial signs of abuse which would be easily visible to a dental practitioner. The commonest injuries were bruises and abrasions. This concurs with previous reports in the literature and highlights the important role of dental practitioners in the recognition of children who have been abused.

There is a lack of consensus concerning the management of intruded permanent teeth. The objectives of the present study were to determine the prevalence of resorption for intruded permanent teeth and to establish the effect of factors on the timing, prevalence and rate of resorption and to examine the relationship between the timing of onset and the subsequent rate of resorption. Sixty-one intruded permanent incisors treated at the Paediatric Dentistry units in Belfast and Newcastle upon Tyne, during the period 1990-99 with a minimum follow-up period of 1.5 years, were studied. The timing and presence of resorption and its rate of occurrence over time were set as the principal outcomes. There was a significantly earlier onset and higher prevalence of resorption in more severely intruded teeth (P< 0.05). There was also a significant relationship between the degree of apical development and resorption with an increased prevalence in the more fully developed roots (P< 0.001). Resorption was detected significantly earlier in teeth with higher rates of resorption (P< 0.05). However, the treatment method did not significantly affect the prevalence or rate of resorption. In conclusion, the occurrence of root resorption after intrusive trauma appears to be related to the severity of the original injury and the stage of root development rather than the repositioning procedure.

Members of the dental team in Denmark do not seem to fill their role sufficiently in child protection matters, and perceive a need for undergraduate and continuing postgraduate training.

Fifty-two long-term survivors of childhood leukemia or solid tumors had a clinical dental examination along with 49 of their sibling. The 52, with an additional 30 examined in a previous study, were studied radiologically with a panoramic tomogram. All children with leukemia had received chemotherapy for 2 or 3 years and irradiation on standard protocols and the solid tumor group had received chemotherapy for 6 to 24 months. There was no difference between siblings and patients for dental caries, gingivitis, and oral hygiene, mouth opening, overjet, and overbite. More solid-tumor patients had abnormal occlusion (P less than 0.02) and those with abnormalities tended to have been treated at an earlier age. Enamel opacities and hypoplasia were more common in patients than siblings and in the leukemia than in the solid tumor group. Sixty-five percent of the children had abnormalities on radiologic examination including failure of the tooth to develop, small crown, hypoplasia of the crown, and abnormal root development. In most cases the radiologic abnormality could be correlated in time with the patient's treatment and a knowledge of the normal time of tooth development. Three teeth extracted during the course of the study were examined histologically and these showed prominent incremental lines which could be correlated in time with vincristine treatment.