Course Coordinator

Dr . H ay der A . Alwaeli
Summer Semester 2008
 Introduction

What is Dental Ethics?

Dentistry is a profession, which means it is different from

general businesses
 Introduction− cont’d
 Ethics deals with moral conduct (right
and wrong behavior), good and evil
 Ethics includes the values, high
standards of conduct, and
professional and personal obligations
interacting with each other
 As dental health care professionals,
these qualities are important to us as
we provide dental care to our patients
Introduction− cont’d
 Ethics seeks to answer two basic
questions:
 What should I do?
 Why should I do it?

 Ethics refers to what you should do,

not what you must do

 The law deals with what you must do

 • Introduction

 Ethics: The rules or principles, which govern right conduct;

the science of moral obligation; a system of moral principles;
and the morality of one's conduct towards others
 Ethical Standards: Correlation of ethical standards with
high social status
 Conduct: How to perform for reaction, under certain
circumstances (way to express behavior)
 Declaration: Very strong statement (stronger than code)
Introduction− cont’d
Why Study Dental Ethics?

“As long as the dentist is a knowledgeable

and skilful clinician, ethics doesn’t
matter”
 “Ethics is learned in the family, not in
dental school”
 “Dental ethics is learned by observing
how senior dentists act, not from books
or lectures”
 “Ethics is important, but our curriculum is
already too crowded and there is no
room for ethics teaching
 • Historical Background

 Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

 Declaration of Geneva
 International Code of Medical Ethics
 Declaration of Helsinki (1964)
 Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International
Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)
 • Historical Background

 Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

 Declaration of Geneva
 International Code of Medical Ethics
 Declaration of Helsinki (1964)
 Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International
Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)
Historical Background
 • Historical Background

 Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

 Declaration of Geneva
 International Code of Medical Ethics
 Declaration of Helsinki (1964)
 Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International
Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)
Historical Background
 • Historical Background

 Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

 Declaration of Geneva
 International Code of Medical Ethics
 Declaration of Helsinki (1964)
 Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International
Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)
 International Code of Medical Ethics

 Duties of doctors in general

 Maintain high standards of professional conduct
 Practice uninfluenced by motives of profit
 Duties of doctors to the sick
 Obligation to preserve human life
 Seek second opinions when necessary
 Confidentiality
 Obligation to provide emergency care
 • International Code of Medical Ethics

 Unethical practices
 Self advertisement beyond that authorized
 Working in other than one's field
 Fee-splitting
 Intra-professional relations
 A doctor should behave to colleagues as he would
have them to behave to him
 must not entice patients from his colleague
 Observation the principles of the Declaration of
Geneva
 • Historical Background

 Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

 Declaration of Geneva
 International Code of Medical Ethics
 Declaration of Helsinki (1964)
 Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International
Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)
 Historical Background

 Recommendations guiding medical

doctors to biomedical research
involving human subjects

 Adopted by the 18th World Medical

Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, 1964 &
as revised by the 29th World Medical
Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, 1975
 • Historical Background

 Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

 Declaration of Geneva
 International Code of Medical Ethics
 Declaration of Helsinki (1964)
 Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International
Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)
 General Contents of Previous Documents

 Doctor's obligation to patients

 Doctor's obligation to work for progress of science
 Duties to community
 Confidentiality
 Relations between colleagues of the medical
profession