There is a clear connection between a child’s oral health and the risk of maltreatment

A child there is a clear connection between oral health and the risk of abuse, a recent doctoral study shows.

A specialist dentist working at the new children’s hospital Heikki Alapulli showed in his research that a child’s poor oral health can act as an early signal of a child’s vulnerable situation.

In research the connection between oral health and the risk of maltreatment was examined from two perspectives.

One result revealed that the oral health of children exposed to buprenorphine, a long-acting opioid, during the fetal period, and at high risk of maltreatment, was weaker at the age of three than the controls.

In the second part, the situation of children undergoing anesthesia dentistry was investigated using the BCAP (Brief Child Abuse Potential) meter. It is a 34-item questionnaire filled out by the parent, which allows the health care personnel to assess the risk conditions of maltreatment and the health of the family.

The result exceeded the risk limit in about every fifth family. The share was significantly higher than what has been observed in previous domestic studies, the HUS press release states.

“The result does not mean that 21 percent of these parents mistreat their children, but it is a risk indicator. It is the task of oral health care personnel to guide the family to the right kind of support,” says Alapulli.

For special care in the last five years, there have been an increasing number of healthy children whose dental treatment requires anesthesia, Alapulli says.

According to him, the phenomenon affects the entire country, even though children’s oral health is not very well known nationally.

“We see the group that is doing the worst in Finland. Their number has been growing all the time,” says Alapulli.

In 2019, HUS received 1,121 referrals requiring anesthesia treatment, while in 2024, for example, there were 2,326 new referrals.

“Probably in Finland, a large part of the children are doing well. The disease is polarized to a small group, and this group is doing even worse.”

In 2025, more than 2,600 dental procedures were performed under general anesthesia for children at HUS. Most of these children are under school age and have, among other things, dental infections.

Doctoral research also points out that oral health professionals have a key but often underutilized role in identifying children at risk.

According to the study, only a quarter of oral healthcare professionals had received training related to recognizing child abuse in their basic studies.

43 percent of the respondents had sometimes suspected abuse at work, but only half of them had filed a statutory child protection report. Only 12 percent of suspicions of physical abuse led to a legal report to the police and child protection.

“This is just as miserable a result as it sounds. The matter has been allowed to be. If the methods of operation are not known, it can raise the threshold for action,” says Alapulli.

According to Alapulli, it is about the rights of the child.

“Every child is born with the opportunity to have a healthy mouth. If the parents are unable to protect it, we other adults have to intervene.”