Child dental neglect: a short review.
BACKGROUND
Child dental neglect is a terrible tragedy with a high prevalence. Dealing with this issue is important regarding psychological and physical health policies. The current review was conducted to provide health professionals insight into the different aspects of child dental neglect as reported in previous literature.


METHODS
Our review was prepared through an electronic search using Pub Med, Science Direct, Medline, Google, Cochran Library, Google Scholar and EMBASE databases. Relevant papers published since 2000 until now in English, discussing child dental neglect were retrieved. Both original and review papers were included. Eligible articles were fully read by the author. A data form was used to record useful findings.


RESULTS
Distinguishing the direct and indirect signs of dental neglect is the first step for improvement of this matter. The dental team are the main professionals who can improve parental knowledge about the consequences of child dental neglect. Victims suffer from short and long-term adverse outcomes. Collaborative attempts need to be made by different health professionals to deal with this problem.


CONCLUSIONS
Child dental neglect has many long-term impacts. The main professionals who are responsible for identification, intervention and treatment of child dental neglect are dental practitioners. However, other professionals cannot ignore this task. Finally, child dental neglect, despite its derivative outcomes, may be a presentation of a broader maltreatment.
Children and Adolescent Health Research Center, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, IR Iran ; Dental Research Center, School of Dentistry, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, IR Iran.
Nahid
N
Ramazani
Child Abuse; Dental Care for Children; Oral Health; Oral Manifestations