Dental surgeon Professor Richard Welbury has been nominated for a Scottish Health Award, but the reason why is quite surprising—he’s been using dental techniques to identify victims of child abuse.
“I became involved in this in the early 1980s when I was working in Newcastle,” said Professor Welbury, he told The Daily Record. He was so affected by what he saw there that it’s become a lifelong work. “It was a case I admitted one night when I was a member of junior staff in plastic surgery. The child had his hand held against the grill of a gas fire. He had a right-angle burn corresponding to the grill. That was the case that got me thinking more about these types of injuries.”
After leaving plastic surgery, Professor Welbury didn’t give up on wanting to help abused children. “When I came back into dentistry full-time, I thought this was an area we were really not involved in and I couldn’t see why we couldn’t get involved in it. We know more about children’s mouths than anyone else. No one else has the expertise.”
Professor Welbury advocates for simple checks that all dentist can do to identify abuse. “There will be bruises or abrasions that could be seen by a dental team. There is a fair amount of evidence of that. Research myself and colleagues did in the early 2000s in Scotland agreed with data from the US.”
Abuse in other areas is usually matched in neglect of the child’s dental needs—it’s important to look for reoccurring signs. “Dentists inform the parents what causes dental decay where a child might have it. After receiving information about diet and lifestyle, offering them treatment and arranging a time to come back in, if parents don’t come back that’s dental neglect.”
