This month marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of a great training manual and online resource for dental teams in recognising and responding to concerns about abuse and neglect.

.

.

.

I had the privilege of working with a great team of dentists and others to pull together Child Protection and the Dental Team (http://www.cpdt.org.uk/) and it has been encouraging to see how it has been used across the country. The lead author, Jenny Harris, has recently pulled together a virtual issue of Child Abuse Review, freely available online, to highlight the ongoing needs to safeguard and protect children’s oral health and wellbeing. This was launched at the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry’s inaugural Stakeholder Day last week in London.

As Jenny points out in her editorial, this is about more than simply recognising when children’s oral health needs are being neglected, but also about awareness of wider patterns of neglect, and of the much broader public health issue of promoting good oral health and wellbeing.

Untreated dental disease not only causes pain and infection but also has an insidious impact on children’s growth and development and interrupts their play, education and social interaction.

The virtual issue consists of 9 papers covering issues specific to dental practice, as well as some wider articles considering different aspects of abuse and neglect and how we work with these. It is our hope that these papers will be of interest, not just to dental practitioners, but to all who share our concern for protecting children and promoting their health and wellbeing. Do take a look.

Children’s Oral Health and Wellbeing: Table of Contents

An overview and pilot study of the dental practitioner’s role in child protection. Cairns A, Murphy M, Welbury R. (2004) Child Abuse Review 13(1): 65–72

An audit of a child protection basic awareness programme within the dental hospital setting: are we effective or not? Soldani F, Robertson S, Foley J. (2008) Child Abuse Review 17(1): 55–63.

Clinical Audit of Children’s Missed Dental Appointments in a City-Wide Salaried Community Dental Service in Relation to Guidance on When to Suspect Child Maltreatment. Harris JC, Firth LM, Chadwick BL. (2015) Child Abuse Review Early View: 16 Nov 2015

Child abuse, child protection and disabled children: a review of recent research. Stalker K, McArthur K. (2012) Child Abuse Review 21(1): 24–40.

Resistant Parents and Child Protection: Knowledge Base, Pointers for Practice and Implications for Policy. Tuck V. (2013) Child Abuse Review 22(1): 5–19.

Why Have We Made Neglect So Complicated? Taking a Fresh Look at Noticing and Helping the Neglected Child. Daniel, B. (2015) Child Abuse Review 24 (2): 82–94.

Early indicators of child abuse and neglect: a multi-professional Delphi study. Powell C. (2003) Child Abuse Review 12(1): 25–40.

Red skies, risk factors and early indicators. Sidebotham P. (2003) Child Abuse Review 12(1): 41–45.

The Contemporary Politics of Child Protection: Part Two (the BASPCAN Founder’s Lecture 2015). Parton N. (2016) Child Abuse Review 25(1): 9–16