Is “Failure to treat” a Treatment failure?

Authors

  • Leanne Sykes Head of Department of Prosthodontics, University of Pretoria
  • Avish Jagathpal Private practitioner and consultant Department of Prosthodontics, University of Pretoria
  • Charles Bradfield Registrar Department of Prosthodontics, University of Pretoria
  • Michael Cronje Final year dental student, University of Pretoria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/2519-0105/2021/v76no8a10

Keywords:

asymptomatic

Abstract

Over-servicing in dentistry has been widely reported on and censured due to the potential physical, social and financial harms it can cause a patient. In contrast, under-treatment is less often noticed or raised as a concern as it seldom presents with overt signs of carelessness or disregard. In addition, it is usually not accompanied by any time or financial burdens, thus patients rarely complain about it. While some practitioners may argue that failure to treat is a form of negligence, this paper will explore if, and when it could be
justified. While practitioners may never reach a consensus agreement, the ultimate message is that all treatment should be patient centred and should only commence following their educated, considered, autonomous, and voluntary consent.

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References

Moodley K, Naidoo S. Ethics and the Dental team. Pretoria, Van Schaik publishers 2010; 38-41

Kazemian A, Berg I, Finkel C, et al. How much dentists are ethically concerned about over treatment; a vignette-based survey in Switzerland. BMC Med Ethics; 2015; 16:43. doi: 10.1186/s12910-015-0036-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-015-0036-6

Dental Protection Organization. Undertreatment and supervised neglect. Accessed at:https://www.dentalprotection.org/ uk/articles/undertreatment-and-supervised-neglect. Accessed on: 14-05-2021

Howley T. Ethical moment. How to handle a colleague who regularly does not inform his or her patients of all needed treatment? JADA. 2017; 148 (11) 855-857 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2017.09.001

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Published

2021-10-29

Issue

Vol. 76 No. 09 (2021): The South African Dental Journal

Section

Ethics

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Is “Failure to treat” a Treatment failure?. (2021). South African Dental Journal, 76(09), 568-570. https://doi.org/10.17159/2519-0105/2021/v76no8a10