The Journal
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acknowledge . In the recent years the community has become increasingly aware of
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the problem of child abuse in society . The 9th ISPCAN Asia Pacific regional Conference of Child Abuse & Neglect ( APCCAN 2011 ) conference outcome document “ Delhi Declaration ” re-affirmed and pledged a resolve to stand against the neglect and abuse of children and to strive for achievement of child rights and the building of a caring community for every child , free of violence and discrimination . It urged and asserted the urgent need to integrate principles , standards and measures in national planning processes , to prevent and
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respond to violence against children . Among the health professionals , dentists are probably in the most favourable position to recognize child abuse and neglect because 50 – 75 % of the reported lesions involve the mouth region , the
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face and the neck . Craniofacial , head , face , and neck injuries occur in more than half of the
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cases of child abuse . The indicators that may be noticeable to the dental professional include trauma to the teeth and injuries to the mouth , lips , tongue or cheeks that are not consistent with an accident . Other common signs of child abuse include fractures of the maxilla and mandible and oral burns . Injuries to the upper lip and maxillary labial frenum may be a characteristic in severely abused young
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children . Despite the opportunities available to the dentists in detecting child maltreatment , they seldom report suspected oro-facial
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injuries . Abuse or neglect may present to the dental team in a number of different ways : a ) through a direct allegation made by the child , a parent or some other person ; b ) through signs and symptoms which are suggestive of physical abuse or neglect ; c ) through observations of child behavior or parent – child interaction . Therefore the aim of the present study is two fold : 1 . To assess the current status of their knowledge and attitudes about child abuse . 2 . To increase their awareness of child abuse in order to encourage the reporting of suspected cases .
Material and Methods
The study sample was selected from various cities of Punjab and it included both graduates and post graduates who are the members of Dental Council of India . A close ended questionnaire was prepared . It included questions on demographic data , years of practice , qualification , type of practice , six questions surveying knowledge about physical abuse , three questions on sexual abuse , five questions on diagnostic indicators of abuse and knowledge regarding child helpline , where and how to report a suspected case of child abuse . The questionnaire was then administered in a standardized manner by a post graduate student of National Dental College , Dera Bassi , Punjab in association with the research supervisor . The post graduate student returned back to the dentists after a period of 7-14 days in order to collect the questionnaire . All the participants were then coded to ensure the confidentiality of the information .
Data Analysis
All the data were coded , tabulated and recorded on an excel database sheet . Descriptive and non parametric statistics were used to analyze the independent variables .
Results
Of the 250 dentists surveyed , response rate was 100 %. Table I shows demographic characteristics and profiles of dental practitioners in Punjab . The majority of the dentists surveyed were males ( 58 %). About 79.6 % dentists had upto 5 years of dental practice . Among all the dentists included , 56.4 % were graduates and 45.6 % were post graduates .
10 3 23 Vol . 12 No . 23 May-August Sept-Dec 2016