New Child Neglect Policy Launched
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- Published: Thursday, 26 October 2023 08:53
- Written by Peter Ingle
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With the importance attached to safeguarding, dental teams need to know of a significant update to the available guidance.
Dental neglect may occur in isolation, or may be an indicator of a wider picture of neglect or abuse. It may even be the first sign of child maltreatment, and dental professionals need to know what to do if they are concerned about a child. Dental neglect is very common, so we may encounter it frequently – a survey in 2016 showed that 62% of paediatric dentists come across children with neglected dentitions daily, or more often. This was unchanged from the previous survey in 2005.
The publication of Child Protection and the Dental Team, in 2006, raised awareness in the UK of dental neglect. Recognising the need for guidance for dental professionals, the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) published their policy document on dental neglect in children in 2009. Now, reflecting progress made since then in the understanding of dental neglect, a revised and updated version has been launched.
Answering the practical question of how to respond to suspected dental neglect, a tiered response is recommended, with three stages of intervention according to the level of concern:
- Preventive dental team management,
- Preventive multi-agency management and
- Child protection referral.
This is intended to allow parents and carers to engage with support so that their child can receive necessary oral care. Escalation would be considered if this was not successful. The model is intended to run in parallel with any local procedures and in the event of significant concerns either the tiers would run concurrently, or in the case of significant concerns about dental neglect or other features of abuse or neglect, an immediate child protection referral would usually be appropriate.
While the three tiered approach for dealing with concerns has been retained from the original document, references to examples of good practice have been added. The new version has also been written with the needs of both dental professionals and non-dental healthcare professionals in mind. The changes in this update were made in response to feedback obtained from a focus group, and subsequently consulting stakeholders.
Dr Jenny Harris, BSPD Past-President said: “BSPD’s mission is to uphold the overall wellbeing of children and key to this is encouraging good safeguarding practice in dentistry. Keeping our research and recommendations up to date is important to ensure that those working within the dental profession are well-informed about dental neglect and its significance as a flag to overall neglect. I am extremely grateful to the diligent team of colleagues who worked with me on this updated policy document as we all continue to campaign for a reduction in oral health inequalities.”
The full policy can be found at British Society of Paediatric Dentistry: A policy document on dental neglect in children - Ridsdale - International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry - Wiley Online Library
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