New Code of Professional Ethics for Dentist in Chile II: Relationship with Colleagues, Professional Association and Social Responsibility

Lidia Bravo R. & Denisse Lagos Tissie

Summary

The objective of this study is to analyze the Code of Ethics recently proposed by the Chilean Dental Association, after studying other professional odontological codes currently in force in different countries of the world, discussing the most commonly regulated topics concerning the relationship between dentist and his peers, and with society as a whole. The Dental Codes of Ethics from Chile, the European Union, the United States, Australia, and some Latin-American countries were searched in websites with open access. The most relevant topics were identified, classified, selected and analyzed: working relationship between colleagues and with support staff, inter-consultation, reporting malpractice, illegal exercise of the profession, role as an expert witness, association, publicity, and leadership and social role. It was found that many important and controversial topics were not discussed in depth in the different examined Codes of Ethics, including the Chilean. Respect, collaboration, responsibility, and self-professional regulation seem to be the key for the integral and sustainable development of our profession.

KEY WORDS: codes of professional ethics, professionalism.

How to cite this article

BRAVO, R. L. & LAGOS, T. D. New Code of Professional Ethics for Dentist in Chile II: Relationship with Colleagues, Professional Association and Social Responsibility. Int. J. Odontostomat., 12(2):194-199, 2018.