The Journal
rules clearly state that a Dental surgeon must
maintain accurate and comprehensive records
of medical and dental histories, clinical findings,
diagnosis and treatment plans and treatments
of each patient. Such records or reports of
clinical information must be released to the
patient or to whomever the patient directs, when
requested by the patient. When there is a
transfer of patient care to another Dental
surgeon, the original dental practitioner must
ensure that a copy of the patient’s record is
readily available to the new practitioner. The
Dental surgeon must not falsify written or
electronic documents including patient records
in any manner such as changing previous
entries, making false entries or forging
signatures, with the intent to defraud, injure or
deceive another. The Dental surgeon must not
misuse written or electronic documents,
including patient records, by unauthorized
removal of such documents from their location
of instruction or storage, or unauthorized use or
dissemination of personal or private information
in such documents. The dentist should know
how to safeguard themselves against false
statements made by patients which are
intended to defame dentists in any mean. Most
of the negligence cases happen when the
dentist has actually not taken a care to maintain
the records and can’t give any proof of why the
same treatment was accorded and whether any
written informed consent was made by him from
the patient.
12. Competence amongst dental
professionals : A well known saying goes “If
you are not growing, you are dying”. New
advances in dental technology never cease to
happen; in fact, these days they are happening
with full aplomb.Technological advances in
science usually add to our ability to manage our
practice efficiently. Technology is not a luxury
anymore, it is for upgradation to manage
efficiently and run effectively our dental
practices. Apart from upgradation, self updation
is also must and almost mandatory in today’s
times. Staying abreast with the latest
20
developments in the profession of dentistry
should always be a first priority for growth in
terms of the amount of specialties you can offer
to your patients. Technically, there is a stark
difference in updation and upgradation. You
update yourself and you upgrade the
armamentarium of your clinic (equipment).
However, it is also a daunting task initially as we
don’t know where and how to start especially in
terms of equipment. So, how to overcome it?
Make it a practice goal, ask your colleagues and
start a little at a time. You can may be in the
beginning, not upgrade all at once, but little by
little as small steps in the direction of
upgradation can be a good foundation to
success later on. However, in matters of
updation, always take giant strides as
knowledge gathering is a never ending ocean
and the quenching of thirst should also be a
never ending one.
Discussion
We all know that ‘Health is wealth’. Good overall
health and wellness cannot exist without a
proper oral health. One of the greatest barriers
to a healthy oral health care is a lack of dental
services. The cost of dental care and lack of
dental coverage are often cited as reasons that
mainly individuals do not seek needed dental
care on time and lack awareness regarding
same. Thus, in order to maintain the nobility of
our services we need to increase the access to
oral health care among common individuals
and eliminate disparities. The newbies are
always suggested to make sure that they offer
outreach services in far fetched areas of our
country where there are less awareness
regions and also which would surely be devoid
of any sort of competition.
Vol. 14 No. 2
May-August 2018