Domestic violence against children detected and managed in the routine of dentistry – A systematic review

•Domestic violence against children is an underreported social problem.•Orofacial injuries are potentially diagnosed in the routine of Dentistry.•Most of the dentists consider reporting suspicious cases to the competent authorities.•The dentists revealed uncertainty defining who the competent authorities are.•Training on the management of cases involving domestic violence against children is necessary in Dentistry courses.

The domestic violence against children (DVAC) interferes in the psychological development leading to sequels that manifest and persist up to the adulthood. The physical evidences of domestic violence are more easily observed in the orofacial complex, becoming eventually detected by dentists. The present systematic literature review aimed to investigate the perception, knowledge and attitude of dentists towards the detection and management of DVAC cases. A systematic search was performed in 6 databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, LILACS, SciELO, GoogleScholar, and OpenGrey. Cross-sectional articles assessing the perception, knowledge, and attitude of dentists facing potential cases of DVAC were selected. No restriction of language, time, and publication status was considered. The search resulted in 1.024 articles, of which 18 fit the eligibility criteria. The knowledge for detecting cases of DVAC obtained during the undergraduation course was classified by the dentists (in 39% of the articles) as “insufficient”. When suspecting of cases involving domestic violence, most of the dentists (in 77.75% of the articles) considered reporting to the competent authorities. However, the dentists are not sure about who these authorities are (in 31.25% of the articles). More attention must be given to the Forensic education in Dentistry. Specifically, proper training is necessary to support the dentists on the detection and management of pediatric patients under domestic violence.Systematic Review Registration Number: PROSPERO CRD42015026747 (http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO).