[Music] this video is sponsored by bootcamp.com check it out for inbd prep and use coupon code mental Dental for 10% off hey everyone Dr Ryan here and welcome back to our ethics video series this video will be about beneficence so beneficence is the third principle of Ethics that we'll discuss and is also referred to as the do good principle appropriately alongside and after the principle of non-maleficence and you might be asking what's the difference between the two aren't they saying the same thing Do no harm and do good well not quite non-maleficence is about not inflicting harm by your own hand while beneficence is more about going out of your way to help people so under this principle the dentist's primary obligation is service to the patient and the public and that includes the competent And Timely delivery of dental care to a patient promoting their welfare and overall well-being and this obligation exists no matter how the patient pays whether they're part of a managed health care plan Medicaid fee for service every patient deserves good dental care so the first code of professional conduct is community service and dentists have an ethical obligation to use our skills knowledge and experience to better the dental health of the public whether that means volunteering at a free clinic somewhere leading a presentation to school children or participating in a missions trip to a foreign country there are so many different ways you can and should get involved and offer your talents to serve others and maintain a high Prestige of the dental profession The Advisory opinion for this one is kind of interesting it basically says in times of Public Health Emergency like with covid-19 for instance the dentist May face an ethical dilemma between autonomy and beneficence say a patient wants to have an elective procedure done to whiten their teeth but there's the covid pandemic you as the dentist will have to weigh is it more important to respect their autonomy and do this whitening procedure or promote the well-being of the public and prevent possible spread of infection so during times of Crisis the Ada code leans toward postponing elective treatment and moving forward with urgent or emergency treatment every profession owes Society the responsibility to regulate itself and this regulation is achieved through the influence of professional societies so all dentists have the ethical obligation to join a professional Dental Society like the Ada and observe its rules of Ethics which were reviewing in this video series other groups include State Dental societies like the North Carolina Dental Society or specialist groups like The American Association of orthodontists research and development so if you're conducting any research that may promote the health of the public we have an ethical obligation to release that information to the public for their own well-being so if you discovered some really important medication that helps to eliminate perodontal disease then you can't keep that information private instead you should share with the public so that people can benefit from it along with that intellectual property like patents and copyrights can be secured by dentists as long as those patents and copyrights don't restrict the research or practice of other people for example if you patented this special mouth rinse that's extremely effective to prevent cavities and prevented other people from trying it out and using it to research oral hygiene that would be unethical under the principle of beneficence all right this next one is extremely important to know dentists are obliged to be familiar with the signs of abuse and neglect like bruising Cuts Etc and to report suspected cases of abuse and neglect to the proper authorities consistent with state laws now abuse and neglect is a tricky subject with a lot of information surrounding it so I'm dedicating an entire video later in this series to discuss abuse and neglect further and we'll unpack differences between child and adult abuse specific signs of abuse and much more so stay tuned for that coming up later one potential question I'll address right now that I get often is why is this not considered under the principle of non-maleficence well that's because because we're not the ones inflicting the harm we are observing harm that's being done to the patient by someone else and intervening to do something about it which is beneficent as we discussed earlier so the last code of professional conduct here is professional demeanor in the workplace and dentists are obliged to foster a workplace environment that supports respectful and collaborative relationships for all those involved in oral Healthcare the front desk staff the hygienist the assistants Etc and our last advisory opinion of beneficence specifically calls out disruptive behavior since the dentist is the leader of this oral Healthcare team you ought to be the role model for everyone else so if you're coming in late every day being vulgar in front of patients talking down to your staff and being condescending you may very well be undermining the Public's trust and confidence in the profession which goes back to our first video in the series we hold trust which affords US privileges like leading a team of employees and therefore we are called to uphold High ethical standards which in turn earn that trust so to summarize the principle of beneficence includes delivering competent And Timely Dental Care engaging in community service when possible joining a professional Dental Society like the Ada sharing research results that are helpful to the health of the public having nonrestrictive intellectual property like patents and copyrights that don't interfere with public welfare reporting suspected abuse and neglect and acting professionally that's it for this video thank you so much for watching please like this video If you enjoyed it and subscribe to this channel for much more on Den Ministry if you'd like to support me please check out my patreon page and thank you to all of my patrons for their support you can unlock access to my video slides to take notes on and practice questions for the board exams so go check that out the link is in the description thanks again for watching everyone I'll see you in the next video [Music]