Classification of dental injuries in women who were victims of physical violence

Resumen

Introduction. A cross-sectional, descriptive, prospective study was carried out, designed to demonstrate that Forensic Dentistry is important in determining physical violence against women, as well as to classify the most frequent lesions in the oral cavity, maxilla and / or tissues; it was carried out between February 2017 and February 2018 in patients attending consultation in 2 shelters, safe houses, and clerical entities where they were directed by the Veracruzan Institute for Women.

Methods. Contingency tables were prepared with the objective of quantifying the frequencies of the variables analyzed (number of participants with a determined characteristic of the total number of participants, expressed in %) of the 268 women evaluated. The results obtained from the descriptive analysis of the population of women evaluated for the presence of lesions in the oral cavity are also described.

Results: 18 to 27 years old (26.11%) and  28 to 37 years old (25.74%) are the most frequent age ranges in this sample. With respect to schooling, the presence of upper secondary education in all the groups stands out, with the exception of those composed of participants from 58 to 67 years old, where basic education is the most frequent (54%). In relation to the occupation of the participants, housewives predominated with 45%, followed by workers (43%) and finally students (12%). Regarding the most common types of injuries by age range, it was observed that the most incidents were the rupture of the labial mucosa and  hematomas, both present in 18% of the women evaluated. When analyzing the frequency of the type of injuries by age range these differ from each other; in the case of women between 18 and 27 years old, the injury with vulnerable agent is the most frequent (19%); for the range of 28 to 37 years, jaw fracture, rupture of the labial mucosa and injury with vulnerary agents predominate (14% in each case); in women from 38 to 47 years old it was observed that the hematomas (29%), and the rupture of the labial mucosa (24%) were the most frequent; in relation to the groups of 48 to 57 years and 58 to 67 years are the rupture of labial mucosa (24 and 37% respectively) and hematomas (29 and 34% respectively). Finally, in 93% of the cases, the sentimental partner was the aggressor.

Conclusion: With the results obtained, the bases for a practical guide to facilitate the intervention to the victims are provided. Dimension the problem, collaborate with the forensic medicine and odontology professionals to standardize: diagnosis and forensic medical opinions.

Keywords: Gender violence, oral injury, classification, typing, guidance.