Citation

Smitt HS, Mintjes N, Hovens R, de Leeuw J, de Vries T. J. Med. Case Reports 2018; 12(1): 109.

Affiliation

Department of Paediatrics, Medical Centre Leeuwarden, P.O. Box 888, 8901 BR, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Tjalling.de.vries@znb.nl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s13256-018-1639-6

PMID

29695306

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Child abuse and neglect have strong negative effects on the well-being of children, not only during childhood but also later in life. Therefore, early recognition is important. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe a 4-year-old Caucasian boy who had severe dental caries. This was a result of insufficient dental care: he refused to brush his teeth and drank sweetened drinks. We considered this dental neglect to be a manifestation of child neglect and social services were consequently called in to help the family.

CONCLUSIONS: There is a strong association between child abuse and neglect and dental caries. Abused children often have severe dental caries and in children who had dental caries, child abuse and neglect is often established. An important factor is insufficient parenting; therefore, we believe that severe dental caries is an important indicator for child abuse and neglect.

Language: en

Keywords

Child abuse and neglect; Dental care; Dental caries; Parenting