Dental Ethics, Professional Practice and Lebanese Health Law
This domain tests informed consent, record keeping, scope of practice, advertising, confidentiality and the Lebanese licensing and disciplinary framework that governs every other domain.
Consent and records
- Valid consent requires capacity, disclosure of material risks, discussion of alternatives including no treatment, and voluntariness, all documented in the notes. A signed form alone is not consent.
- Minors require guardian consent; assess Gillick-style competence where the law allows.
- Records must be contemporaneous, legible and complete. Radiographs and clinical photographs form part of the record; patients have a right of access to their records.
Professional conduct
- Practise only within your competence and refer without abandoning the patient mid-treatment.
- Confidentiality has narrow exceptions: risk of serious harm and legal order. Discussing a case with a relative without consent is a breach.
- No misleading advertising, no fee-splitting or kickbacks, and no public criticism of colleagues.
- Controlled drugs require the prescribed prescription booklets and reporting.
Lebanese framework
Practice requires a licence from the Ministry of Public Health and registration with the Lebanese Order of Dentists, which maintains a code of ethics and a disciplinary council. Civil courts handle negligence claims, and third-party payment through the National Social Security Fund, the Ministry of Public Health, the Army and private insurers imposes strict documentation duties.
Worked example
A dentist posts before-and-after photographs of a patient on social media with a discount code for implants. The ethical problems are use of images without specific written consent, potential identifiability, advertising rules of the Order and an implied superiority claim. The correct approach is written consent for image use, de-identification, and review against the Order's advertising code before publication.
Traps
- Assuming a signature equals consent.
- Discussing a patient with a family member.
- Treating beyond your competence and calling it referral.
- Failing to document a referral when the patient does not attend.