Teaching future dentists to detect and report suspected child abuse and neglect

Abstract

Child abuse and neglect often presents with signs on the head and neck, which dental professionals examine on a regular basis. If educated on how to detect and report it in their schools, they can help in solving the problem of under?reporting. Although, some curriculums have been developed for educating dental students and a lot of stress has been laid on the issue through continuing education, still a lot of cases go unnoticed each year. There is one elaborate, robust and comprehensive curriculum with a multi ? disciplinary approach reported in the literature, which was recently developed at the University of Tennessee. This article is a summary of the same. This curriculum has four phases, which are spread out in four years of education of the DDS students. The students are sequentially introduced to the findings of Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN), they are shown case scenarios, they work with medical and law students to understand their professional and ethical duties, and are required to deal with a simulation case at the end. Future studies should assess the effects of this curriculum and its overall impact in the long run.