Sexually transmitted diseases in children: introduction

Dental Stigmata of Congenital Syphilis: A Historic Review With Present Day Relevance

Syphilis was the first sexually transmitted disease to be diagnosed in childhood. Most developed countries controlled syphilis effectively after the 1950s and congenital syphilis became rare. Since the late 1990s there has been a resurgence of syphilis in developed and developing countries and the WHO estimates that at least half a million infants die of congenital syphilis every year. The earliest reference to the dental manifestations of congenital syphilis was by Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, Assistant Surgeon at The London Hospital in 1861. Three main dental defects are described in congenital syphilis; Hutchinson's incisors, Moon's molars or bud molars, and Fournier's molars or mulberry molars. Although many physicians, dentists, and pathologists in developed countries will be aware of the dental features of syphilis, most will never have seen a case or made the diagnosis. The purpose of this article is to review some of the history of congenital syphilis, remind healthcare professionals of the features, and bring to their attention that the changes are still prevalent and that milder cases can be mistaken for other causes of hypoplasia.

National guideline for the management of suspected sexually transmitted infections in children and young people

The Children Act 1989 defines a child as "a person who has not yet reached 18 years of age." In England, Wales, and Scotland the present age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual sex is 16 years and in Northern Ireland it is 17 years. The proportion of young people who report heterosexual intercourse before the age of 16 years increased in the 1990s compared with the previous decade.