Standards of professional conduct, patient records, and informed consent
What the exam tests
This domain tests professional conduct, the dental record as a legal document, and informed consent. Questions often turn on what was documented, not what the dentist remembers saying.
Core rules
- A dentist owes patients competence, confidentiality, honesty, and nondiscrimination. Abandonment, boundary violations, impairment, and fraudulent billing are separate disciplinary grounds.
- The record must identify the patient, date, findings, diagnosis, treatment, anesthesia, prescriptions, and instructions. Entries must be timely, legible, authenticated, and not altered after the fact; corrections should be dated and identify the corrector.
- Informed consent requires discussion of diagnosis, proposed treatment, material risks, benefits, alternatives (including no treatment), and likely consequences. Consent for minors generally comes from a parent or legal guardian; emergency exceptions are narrow.
- Patients have a right of access to their records under applicable law. Confidential information should be released only with authorization or as legally required.
Worked example
A patient signs a generic surgical consent form, but the note says only “extraction discussed.” The dentist later claims he explained dry socket, nerve injury, and implant alternatives. Because the record lacks the discussion and alternatives, the consent is vulnerable. Reasoning: the signed form proves a signature, not an informed conversation.
Traps that cost marks
A consent form does not cure a missing discussion. Do not backdate or “add to” a note after a complaint. Do not disclose patient information in advertising or social media without valid authorization. Do not confuse billing records with the clinical chart.