Identification and management of elder physical abuse in the routine of dentistry - a systematic review

To perform a systematic search in the literature in order to verify whether the dentists are able to identify and manage cases elder physical abuse.

Dentists may play an important legal role contributing to the management of abused patients through the identification of injuries in their face, head and neck.

The present systematic review was performed following the PRISMA Statement and was registered in the PROSPERO database. A search was conducted in the following electronic databases: PubMed, LILACS, SciELO, Embase, Web of Science, OpenGrey, Google Scholar. Specifically, the last two databases were used to search the 'grey literature'. The research question was based on the PVO strategy for systematic exploratory review. Two examiners determined the eligibility criteria for selecting the studies and performed all the research steps.

The initial search resulted in 842 studies, from which eight were considered eligible. Six studies used questionnaires to assess the perception, knowledge and attitudes of dentists towards the identification and management of cases of elder abuse, while two studies assessed this information through personal interviews. Two studies were rated as high quality, while six studies reached moderate quality. Male and female dentists were assessed separately in six studies. Only three studies specified the aggressor.

The dentists revealed insufficient knowledge on elder abuse. Most of the dentists are not able to identify and manage these cases in the clinical routine.