Forensic Odontology: Psychological Aspects Reflected in the Dental Mirror, Extended Abstract

Abstract:
Forensic dentists can feel pressured to deliver expert
opinion or deal with psychological issues that might
rise from their investigative involvement in cases
associated with death, adult/child abuse and disaster
victim identification. Their regular exposure to these
elements of their professional practices can negatively
impact the enjoyment of mental health and possibly
require the assistance of a psychiatrist, a clinical
psychologist, or a counselor. Our objective is to
inform individuals who aim to become forensic
dentists and those who already have a career in the
field, exposing some characteristics of its professional
demands, relating them to some insights on how the
fulfillment of these duties influence positively or
negatively the psychological states undergone by
these professionals, and briefly but responsibly to
illustrate how mental health professionals can act in
the sense of building autonomy and self-care skills in
their clients, so that forensic dentists can continue
working without suffering, unnecessarily and/or
quietly. We conclude by recommending that it is
urgent that further research and discussion on the
nature and reverberations of the professional and bio
psychosocial suffering of forensic dentists must be
developed, for a society that disregards the care for
its carers denies, from its start, the very significance of
what means to ‘care for’. the psychological and
emotional impacts on forensic odontologists of
conducting work within challenging arenas touched
upon the context of mass casualty incidents, and were
those of Webb, Sweet, and Pretty . However, we
understand that the focus of their analyses took into
consideration the presence of a multi-professional
team, hence, occurring within a setting that includes
the presence of professionals of other theoretical
fields that cooperatively work together for the
resolution of the stressful demands they mutually
confront. In this sense, for the ambience of
camaraderie that is synergistically formed in this
context, the forensic dentist is not isolately left to
cope with the arousal of painful contents, as she can
tune into the presence of these others who are
embodiedly united in a possibly traumatic experience
as if relating to them as ‘empathetic witness’ of the
shared suffering that is confronted, what may
contribute for a better elaboration of the same.
The ‘fear of dentists’ or odontophobia is avoidance
behavior and its psychosomatic components can
impact the oral health of the patients , what has
aesthetic, salutary, and psychosocial effects.
Psychology is often considered part of the
undergraduate dental curricula and its teaching in
them addresses topics related to patients such as
‘psychological management of the patient’, care for
‘anxious patients’ and ‘children with problematic
behaviour’ . Hence, the education and training of
dentists to be) aim to prepare them to recognize and
manage difficulties that can be assessed on what is
happening within the patient/client, that is, that
whom is an ‘otherness’, hence, dentists ‘witness’
through their experience of this alterity (who needs
their aid) the affective states that are experienced by
her, and that may compromise the efficiency of their
work. Consequently, it could be assumed that,
generally speaking and considering that exceptions to
this case might be encountered, the discussion of
psychological theories, techniques, and interventions
within the field of Odontology is mainly directed to
This work is partly presented at 4th Global Congress on Spine and spinal Disorder September 5-6, 2018 Auckland New zeland
Extended Abstract
Vol. 3 Iss.3
2019
Journal of Psychology and Brain Studies
instrument dentists to care for others, and not for
themselves.
The reality portrayed in crime dramas aired on the
media is glamorous as opposed to the life of forensic
odontologists . Dentists rarely face death of patients
so coping with death in the wok environment can be a
psychological challenge , as it can be another difficulty
the fact that they must deal with the handling

Author(s): Giselle Mânica

Abstract | PDF

Share This Article