DENTAL ETHICS

Lecture: 3
What are codes of ethics?
A code of ethics marks the moral boundaries within which

professional services may be ethically provided

What is “professionalism?”
Professionalism has been defined as that quality of character and conduct

that accompanies the use of superior knowledge, skill, and judgment, to the

benefit of another, prior to any consideration of self-interest.

Professionalism extends ethics to include the conduct, aims, and qualities

that characterize a professional or a profession

As a Dentist do you really have obligations to patients?
The dentist is obligated to respect patient privacy, maintain patient

confidences, keep promises, be truthful, and consider patient values and

personal preferences in treatment decisions.

What is meant by the “best interests” of our patients?
The “best interests” of our patients means that decisions taken by the dentist
must consider patients’ values and personal preferences. This requires that
dentists carefully communicate with their patients, and listening is of
paramount importance.
Paternalism
The dentist must consider the patient’s values and personal preferences, and the dentist

must involve the patient in the decision-making process if the patient is considered

capable.

Sometimes patients do not understand the consequences of their requests or have

unrealistic expectations of outcomes. In such instances, additional patient education or

explanation to a competent alternative is needed.

‫د‬. ‫مالـــــــــــس مظاــــــن‬

For patients with compromised capacity, the dentist has an ethical
obligation to inform responsible parties about treatment choices, costs,
possible complications, and expected outcomes when determining what is
in the patient’s best interests.
Principles of ethics
1. Patient autonomy:

Patient has right to make decisions regarding the treatment that he or she will
receive.
In modern dentistry, it is possible to treat even those cases that were not treated
previously. So patient autonomy and informed consent become more important
nowadays.
Dentist should inform the patient about all the treatment options available,
advantages, disadvantages and also consider referral to specialist. Then
patient made final decision on treatment options.
Most of times, there is difference between the needs of patient and his or her interests. So
obtaining informed consent is necessary before providing any dental care to the patient.

Autonomy principle requires every person to respect other person’s self

determination to an appropriate extent within the context of community.
2. Non-maleficence:

Means ‘first, do no harm’. It states that dentist must protect patient from any
harm.

In some dental procedures, there is double effect which means that while
treatment procedure fixes one problem and it starts another one.

For such situations dentist should keep his or her knowledge and skills up to date, know
their limitations and know when and under what conditions it may be justified to do a
procedure that may cause harm to the patient.
Once a dentist starts dental treatment for a patient, he or she must complete the
treatment procedure till end. If for any reason dentist cannot complete the treatment
procedure, it is responsibility of dentist to refer the patient to a specialist or
colleague.
3. Beneficence

It refers to promoting or doing well .

According to this concept, dentists have to practice to benefit their patients and have to take
this as their duty.
The main aim of dental care should be optimum oral function/or appearance of dental set
for patient.

The achievement of this aim will depend on various factors :

1. age of patient
2. general health of patient
3. compliance and implementation of oral hygiene instructions by patient.
This principle includes several components:

 Community service such as providing free or discounted dental treatment to needful

patients,

 Reporting investigative findings that promote the health of general public and

reporting symptoms related to domestic violence and child abuse to the proper

authorities
4.Confidentiality:

Is the keeping of another person or entity's information private. Certain professionals are

required by law to keep information shared by a client or patient private, without disclosing

the information, even to law enforcement, except under certain specific circumstances.

The Principles of Confidentiality:

 Justify the purpose
 Don't use patient identifiable information unless it is absolutely necessary.
 Use the minimum necessary patient-identifiable information.
 Access to patient identifiable information should be on a strict need-to-know basis.
We will complete
in next time….