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Published on: January 18, 2013
Orofacial injuries as markers for intimate partner violence
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, 55 Fruit Street, Warren Building, Suite 1201, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Lhalpern1@partners.org <Lhalpern1@partners.org>
Abstract:
Health care professionals have increasingly recognized that intimate partner violence (IPV) is a highly prevalent public health problem with devastating effects on individuals, families, and communities. However, there are no obvious clinical characteristics of IPV. Interventions may prevent future IPV-related injuries, but they cannot be initiated until the diagnosis is made. Because of the frequency of IPV-related orofacial injuries, oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMSs) may be the first and only health care providers to see these patients. Therefore, OMSs are in a pivotal position to diagnosis IPV-related injuries and expedite referral for interventional therapy. This article presents data that support the use of orofacial injuries as a prime predictor variable in identifying victims of IPV and provides: (1) an overview of the epidemiology of IPV-related orofacial injuries; (2) a discussion of the role of head, neck, and facial injuries as markers of IPV, and their role as a diagnostic tool to facilitate the early diagnosis and referral for management of IPV; (3) a list of the advantages and limitations of using orofacial injuries as indicators of IPV; and (4) future directions to improve efforts to educate OMSs in identifying patients who are at high risk for an IPV-related injury.
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