255DENTIST’S ROLE IN RECOGNIZING AND MANAGING CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECTChildren may experience maltreatment in various places like home, school, orphanages, and work place or in the community. Maltreated children often suffer from poor peer relations and low self esteem, among other problems. Child abuse is a breach of the basic human rights of a child and it is the outcome of a set of inter-related familial, social, psychological, and economic factors. Despite modernization, child abuse still dominates our society with the ever increasing prevalence of 40 million children below the age of 15 being abused worldwide. Multiple injuries, injuries in different stages of healing, or an uncoordinated history should arouse suspicion of abuse. Among the health professionals, dentists are apparently in the most commendatory position to recognize child abuse and neglect because majority of the reported lesions involve the mouth, face, head and neck region. Hence, an understanding of this concept is essential.rkathariya@gmail.comReview572015Child abuse,Dentists role,Acts of omissionShilpa Naik,Jyoti Oberoi,Rahul Kathariya, Archana Singh Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Dr. D.Y Patil School of Dentistry, Nerul, Navi Mumbai-400614, India., Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Dr. D.Y Patil School of Dentistry, Nerul, Navi Mumbai-400614, India.,epartment of Periodontics and Oral Implantology, Dr. D.Y Patil Dental College and Hospital, Dr. D.Y Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune-411018, India.,epartment of Periodontics and Oral Implantology, Dr. D.Y Patil Dental College and Hospital, Dr. D.Y Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune-411018, India.