Frontiers in Oral Health (Oct 2023)
Child dental neglect and legal protections: a compendium of briefs from policy reviews in 26 countries and a special administrative region of China
- Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan,
- Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan,
- Francisco Ramos-Gomez,
- Olawunmi Adedoyin Fatusi,
- Nouran Nabil,
- Germana V. Lyimo,
- Irene Kida Minja,
- Ray M. Masumo,
- Nadia Mohamed,
- Nicoline Potgieter,
- Cleopatra Matanhire,
- Pamela Maposa,
- Chiedza Runyararo Akino,
- Abiola Adeniyi,
- Simin Z. Mohebbi,
- Passent Ellakany,
- Jieyi Chen,
- Rosa Amalia,
- Alfredo Iandolo,
- Faizal C. Peedikayil,
- Athira Aravind,
- Ola B. Al-Batayneh,
- Ola B. Al-Batayneh,
- Yousef S. Khader,
- Sadeq Ali Al-Maweri,
- Wael Sabbah,
- Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga,
- Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga,
- Ana Vukovic,
- Julijana Jovanovic,
- Ro’aa Mohammed Jafar,
- Ilze Maldupa,
- Arheiam Arheiam,
- Fausto M. Mendes,
- Sergio E. Uribe,
- Sergio E. Uribe,
- Sergio E. Uribe,
- María del Carmen López Jordi,
- Rita S. Villena,
- Duangporn Duangthip,
- Nadia A. Sam-Agudu,
- Nadia A. Sam-Agudu,
- Nadia A. Sam-Agudu,
- Maha El Tantawi,
- Maha El Tantawi
Affiliations
- Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan
- Department of Child Dental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
- Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan
- Oral Health Initiative, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Nigeria
- Francisco Ramos-Gomez
- Division of Preventive and Restorative Oral Health Sciences, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Olawunmi Adedoyin Fatusi
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
- Nouran Nabil
- Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
- Germana V. Lyimo
- Department of Dentistry, Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Irene Kida Minja
- Department of Restorative Dentistry, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Ray M. Masumo
- Department of Community Health and Nutrition, Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Nadia Mohamed
- Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
- Nicoline Potgieter
- Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
- Cleopatra Matanhire
- 0Department of Oral Health, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
- Pamela Maposa
- 1Department of Paediatrics, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
- Chiedza Runyararo Akino
- 0Department of Oral Health, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
- Abiola Adeniyi
- 2School of Policy and Global Affairs, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Simin Z. Mohebbi
- 3Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Passent Ellakany
- 4Department of Substitutive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdurrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Jieyi Chen
- 5Guanghua School of Stomatology, Hospital of Stomatology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Rosa Amalia
- 6Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- Alfredo Iandolo
- 7Department of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy
- Faizal C. Peedikayil
- 8Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Kannur Dental College, Anjarakandy, India
- Athira Aravind
- 8Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Kannur Dental College, Anjarakandy, India
- Ola B. Al-Batayneh
- 9Department of Orthodontics, Pediatric and Community Dentistry, College of Dental Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- Ola B. Al-Batayneh
- 0Department of Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan
- Yousef S. Khader
- 1Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan
- Sadeq Ali Al-Maweri
- 2College of Dental Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
- Wael Sabbah
- 3Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga
- 4Postgraduate Department, University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico
- Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga
- 5Centre for Social Data Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Ana Vukovic
- 6Clinic for Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
- Julijana Jovanovic
- 6Clinic for Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
- Ro’aa Mohammed Jafar
- 7Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
- Ilze Maldupa
- 8Department of Conservative Dentistry and Oral Health, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia
- Arheiam Arheiam
- 9Department of Dental Public Health and Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Benghazi, Benghazi, Libya
- Fausto M. Mendes
- 9Department of Dental Public Health and Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Benghazi, Benghazi, Libya
- Sergio E. Uribe
- 8Department of Conservative Dentistry and Oral Health, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia
- Sergio E. Uribe
- 0School of Dentistry, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
- Sergio E. Uribe
- 1Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence, Headquarters at Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia
- María del Carmen López Jordi
- 2School of Dentistry, University of la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Rita S. Villena
- 3Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University San Martin de Porres, Lima, Perú
- Duangporn Duangthip
- 4Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR China
- Nadia A. Sam-Agudu
- 5International Research Center of Excellence, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria
- Nadia A. Sam-Agudu
- 6Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Nadia A. Sam-Agudu
- 7Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Coast School of Medical Sciences, Cape Coast, Ghana
- Maha El Tantawi
- Oral Health Initiative, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Nigeria
- Maha El Tantawi
- 8Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/froh.2023.1211242
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 4
Abstract
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.
Keywords
