Dentist’s Behavior Regarding Children and Adolescents Maltreatment

Abstract

Child abuse is a serious violation of the child’s basic rights and the precocious diagnosis of maltreatment cases and early intervention are important for the protection of the involved individuals. Most of the lesions involve the mouth, craniofacial regions, and neck. Therefore, dentists are in an exceptionally favorable position to recognize child abuse. Thus, the aim of the present study, through an integrative review, to guide dentists in the identification and report of children and adolescents’ maltreatment. A review of the literature was performed from secondary sources such as manuals, official documents and articles from scientific journals published in the electronic databases “Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and “Latin American and Caribbean System on Health Sciences Information “ (LILACS). Based on the critical analysis carried out, it is concluded that it is an ethical, legal and moral duty of these healthcare professionals to recognize signs and behaviors indicative of any kind of child neglect, violence (physical, sexual and / or psychological abuse). The suspected or confirmed cases must be reported to the competent organs, aiming at the interruption of violent episodes and ensuring the inclusion of minors in policies that promote their full and healthy development.Keywords: Dentists. Child Abuse. Domestic Violence.ResumoOs maus-tratos contra crianças e adolescentes representam uma grave violação dos seus direitos básicos, sendo importante o diagnóstico precoce dos casos de violência e a intervenção precoce para a proteção dos indivíduos envolvidos. Uma vez que a maioria das lesões decorrentes das agressões envolvem a boca, regiões craniofaciais e pescoço, os cirurgiões-dentistas apresentam uma posição estrategicamente favorável para reconhecer o maltrato infantil. Desta forma, o objetivo do presente trabalho é, por meio de uma revisão integrativa, orientar os cirurgiões-dentistas na identificação e denúncia de maus-tratos contra crianças e adolescentes. Foi realizada uma revisão da literatura a partir de fontes secundárias como manuais, documentos oficiais e artigos de periódicos científicos publicados nas bases de dados eletrônicas “Scientific Eletronic Library Online” (SciELO) e “Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde” (Lilacs). Com base na análise crítica realizada, observou-se que é dever ético, legal e moral desses profissionais de saúde o reconhecimento de sinais e comportamentos indicativos de qualquer tipo de violência infantil (negligência, abuso físico, sexual e/ou psicológico), seguido da denúncia dos casos suspeitos ou confirmados junto ao Conselho Tutelar, visando a interrupção de episódios violentos e a garantia da inclusão dos menores em políticas de promoção de seu desenvolvimento pleno e saudável.Palavras-chave: Odontólogos. Maus-Tratos Infantis. Violência Doméstica.

Professional practices in situations of child abuse: an integrative review

“…Most of the selected articles address child abuse in a general manner 24,26,[29][30][31][32][34][35][36][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] without specifying the type of violence. In the studies that reported type of violence, the most common types were physical 27,28,37 and sexual 25,33,38 violence.…”

“…The studies encompassed the areas of education, health, public security, social services, and child protection networks. The area of health accounted for the largest number of studies, with 12 articles 24,[27][28][29][30][31]39,[41][42][43][44][45] plus two articles involving both health and social services 32,35 . The areas of education 36 and public security 38 accounted only for 1 article each.…”

“…In addition, one of the studies 45 found that professionals were unaware of which institution they could refer cases of child maltreatment to. Some studies 24,29,44 reveal that when child maltreatment is diagnosed, professionals file a MR, recognizing the importance of this process for protecting the child and resolving the situation. In contrast, other studies show that many professionals undervalue the importance of MR, being skeptical that this type of intervention would help the victim 30,34,35 .…”

“…Three studies 25,28,34 highlighted the need for continuous training due to the complex nature of working with victims of child violence, one of which 28 mentioned that childcare training and experience with caring for children were factors that facilitated the identification and reporting of violence. Most studies concluded that professional training should encompass protocols for service providers to recognize types of violence and make sure that professionals are prepared to communicate violence and refer cases through the correct channels to protect the victim [24][25][26][27][28]34,36,38,39,42,44,46,47 .…”

“…The lack of a protocol of actions or guidelines for the flow of victim assistance also emerged as a weakness in everyday practice 35,44,46,47 . However, even when guidelines did exist, professionals often failed to follow the guidance 24 and observe relevant legal provisions 31,37 , creating their own flow within their respective organizations.…”