April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and this creates a great opportunity to remind MDS members of their mandated reporting responsibilities. The MDS Access, Prevention, and Interprofessional Relations Committee encourages all licensed dental professionals to take advantage of resources the MDS offers to help members identify signs of abuse, and learn the steps for documenting and reporting suspected cases to the appropriate authorities.

Child abuse crosses all ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic lines. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Maltreatment Report, 31,089 children were abused or neglected in Massachusetts in 2015.

Here’s what the Access Committee recommends you do:

1. Visit the MDS Resource Center to access A Guide to Identifying Abuse and Neglect for the Dental Team. This brochure explains the dentist’s obligation as a mandated reporter, offers guidelines for interviewing a suspected victim, and outlines steps to take when reporting the abuse of children.
2. Display the Do You Need Help? poster in your office to provide patients with contact information for reporting abuse.
3. While dental hygienists and dental assistants are not mandated reporters, they are still in a unique position to notice signs of abuse. Encourage your entire dental team to participate in a self-paced online training program provided by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office so that they, too, can learn about the signs of abuse and neglect and how they can help protect their patients.