Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Dental Graduates in Their Clinical Practice - A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND:In the new era of the dental practice, the demands of dental practice on practitioners in all disciplines are recognized but dentists should at all times act reasonably and in the public interest. While the Dentists Act states the law, the guidance to dentists on professional and personal conduct covers identified areas of practice where experience suggests that there might be potential for problems to arise which in many instances might have been avoided if the necessary precautions had been taken at the outset.AIM: To find out the ethical dilemmas faced by dentists in their clinical practice through different scenarios presented to them. MATERIALS & METHODS:A cross-sectional survey was conducted through google forms among the dental graduates through google forms.RESULTS: Out of 125 participants, 99.2% felt ethics is important in dental practice; 83.2% participants think of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice & 20.8% participants in general faced ethical dilemmas while treating child patients (Significance level, P value < 0.05).CONCLUSION: Ethics has been an integral part of practice, with appropriate training methods in the dental profession acceptable ethical behaviour in dentistry can be achieved by avoiding ethical dilemmas.