Hygiene & Ethics

I enjoyed the ethics project in seminar. It was definitely a learning experience and opened up my eyes to many ethical issues that arise in dentistry. One of my favorite quotes from the project was, “Don’t hire someone that you cannot fire”. Personal relationships can make ethical decisions very difficult. I enjoyed how every group touched a different subject so that the class was educated on different ethical issues. Some of the videos and presentations were very creative! Our interview with our practitioner turned out to be very interesting. I have known this doctor for about two years, but I did not know much about his practice. I was shocked when he informed me of some of the ethical issues he has witnessed since practicing. My partner and I were very interested in getting a dentist’s opinion on dental assistants and subgingival scaling and ultrasonic use. This was based around my personal experience as an assistant before entering the program. After all of the hours we have spent in clinic perfecting a skill, it is hard to believe that some dentists just allow anybody to perform these skills. I was very happy that our interviewee remained honest with us during the interview. However, I’ll admit that I was a little shocked by his answers. On one hand, I was a little sympathetic since he believed that he was still following patient standard of care by assessing the quality of work first. On the other hand, this program has taught us the skills and knowledge it takes to provide a thorough quality exam. Honestly, I wish there was some way to highlight the multiple skills, techniques, and services required of a hygienist. This needs to be included in some type of CE course (haha I wish). In order to provide patients with the highest standard of care CE needs to be required. A variety of subjects need to be addressed in these CE courses including employee roles, insurance fraud, and HIPPA education.