What is the Hippocratic oath. and does it apply to dentists?


According to Britannica.com :" This oath dictates the obligations of the physician to students of medicine and the duties of pupil to teacher. In the oath, the physician pledges to prescribe only beneficial treatments, according to his abilities and judgment; to refrain from causing harm or hurt; and to live an exemplary personal and professional life."

Since dentists are essentially physicians of the mouth, the Hippocratic oath applies to our profession . That being said, as more and more cooperate entities are getting involved with healthcare, sometimes it seems that this oath is being forgotten. As far as I know MBA's are not sworn to uphold this oath and and in my opinion it seems that their goal is to increase efficiency and  generate  maximum profits.

This can present a conflict to both dentists in training and to licensed dentists as well. Often to improve access to potential patients they feel compelled to treat patients with insurance plans that have much lower reimbursement rates than fee for service dentists . Often they are encouraged  by their cooperate employers to do their procedures in efficient ways that will allow less time to be needed to complete chairside procedures .  

Fee for service dentists are also affected by a decrease in patient flow, since the pool of patients who want a fee for service provider is probably shrinking . It seems to me as time goes by,  more and more , consumers covered by dental insurance have opted to go "In network" to save money.

So what is the take home message of this post? Dentists may have conflicting needs when treating patients, but ultimately their primary responsibility is to do right by their patients. They should not  recommend treatments that may cause harm and are not in the interest of their patients. After all we are fortunate to be dentists and we are licensed by states to do dentistry . Those who do things that are not in their patients best interest are not only violating the Hippocratic oath but may be jeopardizing their license to practice dentistry.



from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2022/09/what-is-hippocratic-oath-and-does-it.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Help! My Child is Terrified of the Dentist

Image
If you’re the parent of a young child, you know their brains are similar to sponges that soak up everything around them—especially in their first five years, which neuroscientists say is when they’ll do the most learning and developing in their entire life. At this formative time, your child may amaze you with what they notice: your facial expressions, the different tones of your voice, and your habits. If your habits include regular dental visits and an excellent oral hygiene routine, they’ll notice and want to emulate you. If you happen to feel anxious about your dental visits, or you groan when you’ve got to floss and brush, they may synchronize and feel your dread. This could lead to dental fears that stick with them for years—potentially a lifetime! Kids Can Be Courageous If you’re feeling guilty right now, go ahead and put that away as it won’t serve you or your little one. Everyone has some room for improvement, and Coastal Pediatric Dentistry® is here to help show you an
Read more

Going for the Gold?

Image
On the left is the older allow, on the right the new one that my lab has chosen to use The cost of a penny weight of pure gold is currently $79.53. The cost of a penny weight of pure palladium is $130.6. It used to be that palladium was added instead of gold to the precious metals often used for pfms, but now laboratories are finding that palladium is no longer affordable. The lab that I am using has just changed the formulation of the metal it's using to one that has more gold than palladium. I really do not mind, but metals with more gold are softer and often easier for a dentist to accidentally polish off delicate margins. It is important when polishing "higher gold" formulations to exert less hand pressure when performing the final polishing of the crown's margins. Other wise there should be no problem with this change. Traditionally labs have chosen alloys with higher gold percentages for optimal esthetics, since alloys with higher concentrations of
Read more

Tongue Ties: What Parents Need to Know

Image
For a long time, people just didn’t seem to know much about tongue ties. In the early years of my practice, few of my patients had ever heard of a tongue tie. When I pointed out that they or their children might be tongue tied, I was often the very first practitioner who’d mentioned it to them. When I told them that a tongue tie might actually be the root cause of their oral myofunctional issues, or even their sleep apnea , I’m sure that some of them thought I was crazy. But in the last few years, things have changed so much! Initially, there was a small increase in the number of patients who were contacting me specifically about tongue ties. Dentists and orthodontists also began reaching out more frequently to discuss the application of myofunctional therapy exercises to tongue tie treatment. But in the last year or so, that little bit of interest has become a surge of awareness. Tongue ties and their effects on health and craniofacial development are finally becoming mainstream.
Read more