A national survey of dentists' awareness of elder abuse and neglect

This paper reports the results of a national survey of 1,321 general practitioners regarding their level of awareness of and experiences with the treatment of older victims of abuse and neglect. Greater than 90% were aware of elder abuse and neglect as a social and medical problem. Greater than 10% had personal knowledge or had treated a victim of abuse or neglect. Data suggest that dentists will increasingly come in contact with victims and must be trained to recognize, treat, and report such incidents.