iDentistry The Journal identistry_jan_april2019 | Page 41

The Journal
tconduct fall below the expected standard,
dishonour not only themselves but the
profession as a whole. Such actions open them
to allegations of professional misconduct which
may in turn result in the loss of their livelihood,
their professional standing and considerable
damage to personal reputation. However,
maintenance of standards should not be
regarded as a burden. As per the various court
room verdicts, it is merely the exercise of what is
to be expected from reasonable people under
normal circumstances as the courts don’t
expect us to be Hercules. They understand that
Medical/Dental science is a not a perfect
science and many things are based on
assumptions as well. So, our work ethics and
culture needn’t be court phobic. Although, there
has been an ever increase in the number of
malpractice suits brought against the dentists in
the past few years, but it doesn’t necessarily
mean that every action of ours should be guided
by court of law. Ethics was always self governed
but in present times, the DCI has needed to step
in and issue the revised code of ethics because
of the increasing court cases where standards
have been found to be deteriorating and going
below the prescribed guidelines.
We should adhere to those prescribed
standards; never compromise on the same and
for the rest, GOD is there to take care of all of us.
Apart from the usual technical know-how and
skill, the dentists should possess a fair amount
of knowledge about the legal process to avoid
any liabilities. There has to be a fair amount of
distinction made about the concept of Dental
Negligence and provisions of the various laws
enacted. Ethical decisions can be difficult to
make but the dentists must be aware of the legal
elements of malpractice. The dentists should try
to keep the standard of the Dental treatment as
a top notch priority. A fair amount of education
about the ethical issues enables the dentist to
deal effectively with patients and can be a
solution to many of dentistry’s professional
challenges.Ethics must be incorporated in the
University BDS Syllabi of all Dental Graduates
41
with immediate effect along with some aspects
of Practice Management and Finance
management as well as a youngster these days
finds himself at the crossroads after freshly
graduating out from the college.
Conclusion
Bertrand Russell said:
‘Man is not a solitary animal, and so long as
social life survives, self-realization cannot be
the supreme principle of ethics’.
Dentistry, as part of healthcare, is at the centre
of the fabric of society. Ethics and law cannot be
ignored and for that reason, it is essential for
every Dental healthcare professional to get a
good amount of knowledge of ethics in dentistry
and the best would be by adding it in syllabi of
graduates. My personal judgment on the above
amended Code of ethics by Dental Council of
India (DCI) is that it is a poor blatant copy of the
Medical Code of Ethics given by the Medical
Council of India (MCI). If you go through the act
twice (first read won’t give you much idea
though), you can see many things are oft
repeated just for the sake of it under different
categories and sub headings. The copy part is
clear especially from a few places of Medical
code of ethics like Appendix 1 and Appendix 2
whereas in actuality, there are no appendices
attached to the Dental code of ethics. Secondly,
as I mentioned, there are many things which
general dentists (except Oral Surgeons) don’t
do either like issuing of certificates and entry on
register with identification marks etc.Thirdly, I
found many things which are in a double
standard. On one hand, the code encourages
us to live cordially with our fellow colleagues
and neighbours and not bad mouth about each
other and their work (if seen to be shoddy) and
on other hand, expects us to expose an
unethical conduct done by a fellow colleague.I
understand from my experience that Dentistry
is one such community which hasn’t yet united
even till date either at IDA forum or any such
other platform..
Vol. 15
No. 1
Jan-April 2019