Prevent Abuse and Neglect Through Dental Awareness Facts

Children

• 65-75% of physical abuse involves injuries to the head or neck area.
• In 2001, there were 903,000 victims of a child abuse and neglect in the U.S. Nationally, 12.4 children per 1,000 are victims – Delaware’s rate is 8.5, Maryland’s rate is 14.4, and Washington, D.C.’s rate is 25.5.
• Children with special needs are at a five times greater risk of being abused or neglected.

Spousal/Partner Abuse

• More than 1.5 million women are physically and/or sexually abused by an intimate partner each year in the U.S. according to the Department of Justice.
• In 2002, a total of 20,688 domestic violence crimes were reported in Maryland by law enforcement.
• Although battered women compromise 20-30% of ambulatory patients, only 1 in 20 is correctly identified as such by practitioners.

Elderly and Vulnerable Adults

• In 1996, 551,011 persons aged 60 and over experienced abuse neglect, and/or self neglect.
• Only 1 in 14 abuse incidents comes to the attention of authorities
  
  
  
  

Prevent Abuse and Neglect Through Dental AwarenessArtwork and acronym by permission of the P.A.N.D.A. Coalition developed by Delta Dental of Missouri, copyright 1992