Peer-reviewed article
Maltreatment and Dental Trauma in Preschool Children: A Cohort Study.
Posser RU, Dos Santos Costa F, Demarco FF, Barros F, Murray J et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether child maltreatment is associated with dental trauma in preschool children in Brazil. Researchers followed 3,645 children from birth to age 4, asking mothers about maltreatment exposure and examining children's teeth for signs of trauma. Although 11.4% of children experienced some form of maltreatment and 20.2% had dental trauma, the study found no statistical connection between the two.
Key points
- 11.4% of 3,645 children were exposed to some form of child maltreatment from birth to age 4
- 20.2% of children presented with dental trauma in their primary teeth
- Five types of maltreatment were assessed: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and custodial interference
- After adjusting for confounding variables, no statistically significant association was found between overall maltreatment and dental trauma
- The study used data from the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study in southern Brazil
Limitations
The study is observational and relies on maternal reports of maltreatment, which may underestimate actual occurrence due to recall bias or underreporting. The findings apply specifically to this Brazilian cohort and may not generalise to other populations or settings.
Abstract
Background Child maltreatment (CM) has been associated with adverse oral health outcomes during childhood. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between CM and dental trauma (DT) in the primary dentition. Aim To evaluate the association between CM and DT at 4 years of age. Design The sample comprised 4275 children from the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study, southern Brazil. Overall CM from birth to age 4, as well as specific types of maltreatment ("physical abuse," "sexual abuse," "emotional abuse," "neglect," and "custodial interference"), were assessed using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire, completed by mothers when the children were 4 years old. DT was assessed at age 4 using the criteria of the UK Child Health Survey (1993). Bivariate analyses were conducted using the chi-square test, and crude and adjusted analyses were performed using Poisson regression models. Confounding variables with p < 0.250 in the crude analysis were included in the adjusted models. Results Of the 3645 children evaluated, 11.4% had been exposed to some form of CM, and 20.2% presented with DT. In the adjusted analysis, no statistically significant association was found between DT and overall or specific types of CM. Conclusions In this large-sample study, no association was found between DT in the primary dentition and CM.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Assessment of maltreatment exposure and dental health monitoring; no intervention was delivered—this is an observational study
- Population
- 3,645 preschool children aged 4 years from the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study in southern Brazil
Key finding
11.4% of children had been exposed to some form of child maltreatment