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Creating State or Regional Dental Registries to Identify Pediatric Dental Abuse or Neglect

Volume 1 - Issue 5

*David R Katner JD

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    • Tulane University Law School, USA

    *Corresponding author: David R Katner JD, Tulane University Law School, Tulane Law School 6329 Freret St. New Orleans, LA 70118, USA

Received: October 13, 2017;   Published: October 20, 2017

DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2017.01.000451

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Abstract

In 1967, the American Dental Association published an editorial noting dentists’ infrequent reporting of cases involving child abuse. Subsequently, the ADA adopted the Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct along with an official policy addressing child abuse [1,2]. Our current child welfare services, including services for dental neglect and abuse, has a genesis dating back to the 1960s following the publication of “The Battered Child Syndrome” by Dr. Henry Kempe and colleagues and which focused primarily on physical abuse, and subsequently on sexual abuse [3]. Because the evolutionary development of legal responses to pediatric dental abuse and neglect has never been a primary focus of legislatures [4], the recognition by dental professionals of their role as mandatory reporters has been somewhat slower than recognition by other health care professionals serving the medical needs of children [5]. Today, dental professionals are clearly recognized as mandatory reporters of oral injuries indicating possible child abuse or child neglect [6].

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