The relevance of institutional ethics for professional dentistry

The concept of "ethics" has recently been incorporated into both the 2014 Model Professional Code for Dentists and the current version of the "National Competence-Based Catalog of Learning Objectives in Dental Medicine" (NKLZ, Nationaler Kompetenzbasierter Lernzielkatalog Zahnmedizin). The study presented here addresses the question which relevance this has for the relevance of the new concept accomplished for the dental profession and society. To this end, the societal processes that are related to the autonomous freedom of action of the dental profession are discussed. Therefore the sociological fields of discourse such as profession (and the effect of its constitutive antinomies), trust, education, expertise, practice of treatments and sanction are reviewed for their potential of having connections to each other and serving as a structural frame concerning an ethically reflected acting of the professional. The basis of the professional freedom of action is the trust of society and the individual patient in the professionally acting dentist. The study arrives at the conclusion that it was a serious omission for many decades not to make young dentists aware of the ethical foundations of dental activity on an institutionally established basis and thus failing to encourage them to constantly reflect their professional expertise in relation to the problems to be solved. This deficit has now been identified. It is absolutely essential to implement an institutionalized structure dealing with ethical questions within the scope of dental medicine.