DT News - UK - Study shows awareness of poor oral health in identifying child neglect is lacking

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 23 May 2018

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LONDON, UK: According to researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK, dental neglect is a marker of child neglect. In a new study, the researchers have looked at the role of GPs and their awareness and understanding of oral health in the identification of cases of child neglect. The results showed a lack of education and understanding of the issue and that time constraints prevent their routine examination of children’s teeth.

The researchers gathered their data through a survey sent to all GPs in the British county of the Isle of Wight, and 52 per cent took part. According to the results, half of the respondents believed childhood immunisations were of more importance than registration with a dentist, and 96 per cent had never received any formal dental training. Additionally, some GPs did not believe dental health to be relevant to general health and only five mentioned a link between a lack of dental registration and child neglect—none of the respondents worked at clinics where child dental registration status was recorded.

Speaking to Dental Tribune Online, lead author Dr Sascha M. Colgan, visiting academic at the Medical Education Academic Unit of the Faculty of Medicine at the university, said: “I think that, if GPs don’t appreciate the importance of dental health to overall health, they are not necessarily going to look for signs of dental ill health or, in the event that they recognise dental disease, feel that it is their clinical responsibility to do anything about this. I think you could extrapolate from this, that if GPs don’t actively seek evidence of neglect, that is by examining children’s mouths, they are not going to find it.”

In response to the survey results, the British Dental Association (BDA) has renewed its call for a joined-up strategy on children’s oral health, as it believes the research has demonstrated that GPs are not given the time or training to spot evidence of dental neglect. Chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee Dr Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen said, “Tooth decay can be a tell-tale sign of abuse or neglect, and many children are falling through the cracks in a siloed health service. GPs bear an enormous burden and it cannot fall to them to ‘multitask’, when government is failing to deal with the problem.”

Official data currently shows that 41.8 per cent of children in England had not been to a dentist for a check-up in the 12 months up to June 2017. “Tooth decay is the number one reason for child hospital admissions, but dentists are not seeing those at most risk early enough to make a difference. Poverty, neglect or ignorance can be huge barriers to good oral health, and we desperately need joined-up policymaking to tackle them,” said Overgaard-Nielsen.

Although the study is somewhat limited by its size, Colgan believes it is a fair representation of the current situation because the system and structure of the NHS are universal throughout the UK. “The limitation might be the influence of an island and the limitation of potential geography when accessing dental care. Having said this, with regard to the GPs themselves, all will have been trained (primary medical degree) either in the UK or overseas, but most certainly, their GP training will have taken place in the UK, and within the NHS system, so the study is representative of GP training in the UK,” she said.

The study, titled “ ‘Bridging the gap’—A survey of medical GPs’ awareness of child dental neglect as a marker of potential systemic child neglect”, was published in the British Dental Journal on 11 May 2018.

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