Child dental neglect and legal protections: a compendium of briefs from policy reviews in 26 countries and a special administrative region of China

Frontiers in Oral Health

Oral Health

Julijana Jovanovic¹  Ana Vukovic¹  Sadeq Ali Al-Maweri²  Morẹ́nikẹ́ Oluwátóyìn Foláyan³  Ray M. Masumo⁴  Simin Z. Mohebbi⁵  Ilze Maldupa⁶  Sergio E. Uribe⁷  Fausto M. Mendes⁸  Arheiam Arheiam⁸  Germana V. Lyimo⁹  Alfredo Iandolo^1,10  Chiedza Runyararo Akino^1,11  Cleopatra Matanhire^1,11  Olawunmi Adedoyin Fatusi^1,12  Ola B. Al-Batayneh^1,13  Nadia Mohamed^1,14  Nicoline Potgieter^1,14  Pamela Maposa^1,15  Nouran Nabil^1,16  Rita S. Villena^1,17  Ro’aa Mohammed Jafar^1,18  Faizal C. Peedikayil^1,19  Athira Aravind^1,19  Rosa Amalia^2,20  Yousef S. Khader^2,21  Irene Kida Minja^2,22  Passent Ellakany^2,23  Francisco Ramos-Gomez^2,24  Wael Sabbah^2,25  Duangporn Duangthip^2,26  Jieyi Chen^2,27  Nadia A. Sam-Agudu^2,28  Maha El Tantawi^2,29  Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga^3,30  María del Carmen López Jordi^3,31  Abiola Adeniyi^3,32 

[1] Clinic for Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia;College of Dental Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar;Department of Child Dental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Oral Health Initiative, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Nigeria;Department of Community Health and Nutrition, Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Department of Conservative Dentistry and Oral Health, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia;Department of Conservative Dentistry and Oral Health, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia;School of Dentistry, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile;Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence, Headquarters at Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia;Department of Dental Public Health and Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Benghazi, Benghazi, Libya;Department of Dentistry, Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;Department of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy;Department of Oral Health, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe;Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Orthodontics, Pediatric and Community Dentistry, College of Dental Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah;Department of Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan;Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa;Department of Paediatrics, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe;Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt;Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University San Martin de Porres, Lima, Perú;Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan;Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Kannur Dental College, Anjarakandy, India;Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia;Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan;Department of Restorative Dentistry, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;Department of Substitutive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdurrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia;Division of Preventive and Restorative Oral Health Sciences, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA, United States;Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom;Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China;Guanghua School of Stomatology, Hospital of Stomatology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China;International Research Center of Excellence, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria;Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States;Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Coast School of Medical Sciences, Cape Coast, Ghana;Oral Health Initiative, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Nigeria;Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt;Postgraduate Department, University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico;Centre for Social Data Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland;School of Dentistry, University of la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay;School of Policy and Global Affairs, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Vancouver, BC, Canada;

关键词: child abuse;    oral health;    human rights;    legislation;    public health;   

DOI  :  10.3389/froh.2023.1211242

 received in 2023-04-24, accepted in 2023-09-26,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundChild neglect is a public health, human rights, and social problem, with potentially devastating and costly consequences. The aim of this study was to: (1) summarize the oral health profile of children across the globe; (2) provide a brief overview of legal instruments that can offer children protection from dental neglect; and (3) discuss the effectiveness of these legal instruments.MethodsWe summarized and highlighted the caries profile and status of implementation of legislation on child dental neglect for 26 countries representing the World Health Organization regions: five countries in Africa (Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe), eight in the Americas (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Unites States of America, Uruguay), six in the Eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Iran, Libya, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia), four in Europe (Italy, Latvia, Serbia, United Kingdom), two in South-East Asia (India and Indonesia) and one country (China) with its special administrative region (Hong Kong) in the Western Pacific.ResultsTwenty-five of the 26 countries have legal instruments to address child neglect. Only two (8.0%) of these 25 countries had specific legal instruments on child dental neglect. Although child neglect laws can be interpreted to establish a case of child dental neglect, the latter may be difficult to establish in countries where governments have not addressed barriers that limit children's access to oral healthcare. Where there are specific legal instruments to address child dental neglect, a supportive social ecosystem has also been built to facilitate children's access to oral healthcare. A supportive legal environment, however, does not seem to confer extra protection against risks for untreated dental caries.ConclusionsThe institution of specific country-level legislation on child dental neglect may not significantly reduce the national prevalence of untreated caries in children. It, however, increases the prospect for building a social ecosystem that may reduce the risk of untreated caries at the individual level. Social ecosystems to mitigate child dental neglect can be built when there is specific legislation against child dental neglect. It may be more effective to combine public health and human rights-based approaches, inclusive of an efficient criminal justice system to deal with child dental neglect.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© 2023 Foláyan, Ramos-Gomez, Fatusi, Nabil, Lyimo, Minja, Masumo, Mohamed, Potgieter, Matanhire, Maposa, Akino, Adeniyi, Mohebbi, Ellakany, Chen, Amalia, Iandolo, Peedikayil, Aravind, Al-Batayneh, Khader, Al-Maweri, Sabbah, Abeldaño Zuñiga, Vukovic, Jovanovic, Jafar, Maldupa, Arheiam, Mendes, Uribe, López Jordi, Villena, Sam-Agudu and El Tantawi.