Informed consent in dentistry. Historical-interpretive study Cundinamarca Colombia 1990-2010

Informed consent is a recent process that has been incorporated for a few decades in the health field. The process was developed in human research, as a response to the way in which human research was being conducted, to guarantee respect and autonomy for human beings. Less than 50 years ago it was integrated in the clinical field, due to ethical issues where patient autonomy, information and decision-making were compromised. It appeared primarily as an expression of the principle of autonomy. In Colombia, the process started its application in dentistry since the nineties, as a legal right in face of the disciplinary ethical-professional proceedings rather than a result of professionals and patients' awareness of its role in the qualification of the clinical setting. Little has been specifically studied, both in relation to other principles and in the context of economic, social, cultural and political conditions where it is applied. Therefore it is necessary to examine the strategies and pathways that have formed, both in clinical practice and in regulations, in order to implement the informed consent process in dentistry. This research is an interpretive historical study that analyzed the development of dentistry informed consent in Cundinamarca - Colombia. It addresses its appearance in the academy, its regulations: the conception of dentists and skilled judges on the topic, and its development in a key scenario: the ethical disciplinary process. The research seeks to highlight the problems for its implementation in dentistry, particularly in the case of Cundinamarca, in order to recommend solutions from the bioethics perspective.