The Importance of Ethics in Dentistry

Course Details and Registration:

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This important program will feature Dr. David Nash as the 2008 G. Shuford Abernethy Lecturer on Ethics. Dr. Jack Behrman will also join us as the 2008 Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) Lecturer on Ethics, and Dr. Sam Nesbit will present "Ethics, Decision Making, and Treatment Planning." In the afternoon, Dr. David Felton will join the group for the panel discussion. Dr. Felton is author of the 2006 Gies Award winning editorial, Do No Harm published in the Journal of Prosthodontics.

While knowledge, perceptual-motor skills, and problem-solving abilities are basic to the practice of dentistry, applying these skills and abilities with integrity must be a fundamental concern. This course discusses ethics in the broad context of life, and seeks to apply the concepts of ethics to the profession of dentistry.

In doing so, it defines ethics and differentiates it from two related but different concepts, religion, and law. Ethics is explained in both the sense of life's aspirations and life's obligations; and an argument advanced for why it makes sense for one to be ethical. In seeking to understand ethics in the profession of dentistry, the concept of profession is defined, and the historical notion of what it means to be a profession is considered. Contrasts are drawn between dentistry as profession and dentistry as a business. A comprehensive professional ethics for dentistry is considered. Reasons are advanced for why a focus and emphasis on ethics is good practice administration and helps build successful relationships with patients; and thus a successful and rewarding practice.

Questions addressed:
1. What does it mean to be a member of a profession...a professional?
2. What is ethics all about?
3. What is the relationship of ethics to law and religion?
4. What do philosophy and psychology say regarding what goals humans should aspire to in their lives? What is an "ethics of aspiration?"
5. How can humans live together in a society where everyone is pursuing their personal best interests or goals?
6. What general moral obligations do humans have to one another and why?
7. What specific moral duties do dentists have to their patients and to society and why?
8. Why all of the emphasis on 'informed consent?' What is it and how is it obtained?
9. How can the nature of the relationship between dentists and patients best be understood?
10. What are the tensions between understanding dentistry as a profession and understanding dentistry as a business?
11. How is ethics related to excellence in practice administration?
12. What is the role of lifelong learning in the ethical practice of dentistry?

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