Dental Ethics

Code of Practice regarding Professional Behaviour and Ethical Conduct

The Dental Council has published a new Code of Practice on ethical standards entitled “Professional Behaviour and Ethical Conduct”. This Code of Practice supersedes the “Code of Practice on Professional Behaviour and Dental Ethics”.

It is Dental Council’s intention that the Code should be read by all dental healthcare professionals and the broader public. It is designed to allow the reader contemplate the ethical issues which arise in a patient’s passage through dental care.

The Code of Practice is not prescriptive but asks the reader to reflect on the relationship between dentists, their patients and the community from a moral perspective. There are aspects of patient care that are not referred to directly. The primacy of patient safety and welfare is central to all decision making. The general principle is for dentists to ask “what is in your patient’s best interest?” and to act accordingly.

The Code of Practice regarding “Professional Behaviour and Ethical Conduct” is effective from March 2022.

Code of Practice – Professional Behaviour and Ethical Conduct (pdf)

Open Disclosure Framework 

The National Open Disclosure Framework (Framework) is an initiative of the Department of Health which aims to promote a clear and consistent approach by health and social care service providers, and other organisations where appropriate, to open communication with patients/service users and any relevant support person following a patient safety incident or an adverse event. This includes a discussion about what has happened, why it happened, and what is being done to prevent it from happening again.  

Many of the key points are already embedded in the Dental Council’s Code of Practice regarding Professional Behaviour and Ethical Conduct.  The Dental Council will be incorporating the framework’s requirements into its next revision of the code which will probably be in 2027 or 2028.  In the intervening period, the Dental Council recommends that dental healthcare professionals make themselves aware of the requirements if there is an adverse event or a near miss in the dental surgery, and the notification requirements in the event of the death of a patient. 

Open Disclosures Framework 2023

Notifiable Incidents Guidelines 2023