Addressing Child Abuse and Neglect: Advocating for Forensic Training Among Dentists in Pakistan for Enhanced Detection and Reporting Mechanisms

Letter to the Editor

Abstract

Child abuse and neglect (CAN) has become so common in Pakistan that the societies become insensitive towards it. According to the NGO in Pakistan, Sahil reported that from the age of 6 to 15, boys are most vulnerable to abuse and the age bracket between 0 to 5 and 16 to 18 girls are at higher risk of abuse (1). Almost 60-75% of CAN involve facial injuries and marks which include bruising, ear injuries, eye injuries, fracture of the facial bone, and sexually transmitted infections. These signs can be immediately detected by the dentist by examination and by the history of the presenting scars, which may contain irrelevancy and lack of connectivity by the caregiver or guardian. For this reason, it has been recommended for so long that Dentists should be involved in child protection agencies. (2)