Abstract

BACKGROUND: A dentist is the first health care professional to treat patients who have experienced oro -facial trauma resulting from a domestic violence. Hence, it challenges the social responsibility of a dentist in addressing the issue. AIM& OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to enhance the Dentist’s responsiveness towards dental violence, in Chennai city.To assess the knowledge and awareness of domestic violence among dentists in Chennai. METHOD: A cross sectional study was conducted among the dental practitioners in chennai city. 100 respondents participated who were chosen randomly selected. They filled in the survey after agreeing to participate. RESULT: From the study, it can be summarised that 22% of the participants have encountered victims of domestic violence, and from which about 35% have tried to ask the reason and cause for the same. About 69% of the participants believe that dentists have role in bringing down the prevalence of domestic violence and about 2% of the participants from 22% have tried to report and recording the domestic violence. CONCLUSION: This study shows that knowledge, attitude and awareness among dentists in bringing down domestic violence. Hence, there must be educational programs on the same to enhance the role of dentists in addressing domestic violence.

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