Opioids. Dental neglect. Anti-science claims. These are just some of the sensitive topics that may come up for a practicing dentist. When difficult situations arise, what do you do? Dr. Donovan Caves, a general dentist in Suffolk, Virginia, cited pain medication requests as a source of potential conflict for many practices. When a patient requests narcotics, he and… Read More »
Q: As caring, compassionate, and friendly practitioners, we naturally care and are curious about our patients and their lives. We certainly garner information on many of our patients’ typical family activities, vacations, purchases, life changes, and other events as a part of interacting with them in a treatment setting. In fact, this is often how we best display… Read More »
Is it ethical to date a patient? What are the ethical implications of using social coupons to expand my patient base? What should I do when I suspect a patient may be abusing prescription drugs? Are you caught between a rock and a hard place? “There are always things that come up that make us do a… Read More »
The ADA Council on Ethics, Bylaws and Judicial Affairs is accepting entries for the 2017 Student Ethics Video Contest. The deadline to submit entries is July 31. Since 2010, the council has annually sponsored the contest to draw student attention to the ethical dilemmas that dental students and professional dentists may encounter and to provide an exercise focusing… Read More »
The abuse and misuse of opioid pain relievers has become an epidemic the government and medical professionals are paying close attention to. Since 1999, opioid prescriptions have quadrupled, and over 183,000 people have died from prescription opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The federal government, organized dentistry and state agencies are trying to educate on the… Read More »
Pain Killers. Opioids. Drugs. Are they on your mind today? Because they’re on mine. With every walk-in. With every extraction. With every patient who looks me in the eye and says: “Doc, can I get a little something for pain?” “Sure,” I say. And then I walk back to my computer, stare at my screen, and wonder what… Read More »