An ethical awareness among dental interns in dental practice

Abstract

Background: Code of ethics has to be maintained by the dentists at all levels, however for marketing reasons this has been ignored to a greater extent to establish or grow a dental practice, but does this degrade or have a negative impact by undermining the profession as a whole? Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the level of cognizance and implementation of marketing dentistry among dental interns. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire-based study survey comprising 25 multiple-choice questions was provided to 300 dental interns from different colleges. The filled questionnaires were collected in 15 days and the results were tabulated and subjected to statistical analysis using Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test is used. Results: 24.7% of interns report marketing is ethical and 59.3% of interns think that without marketing, dentistry is seen inferior on the whole. Despite 56.4% of interns agreeing that it does have a negative impact on the profession, around 87.6% of them strongly agree that it has served the community when combined with better quality services. Conclusion: An attitude change seems to be emerging in the upcoming budding dentists. It should be understood that the Council did not intend to moralize, but to guide and a truthful advertising can be a solid foundation for building a trusted dentist-patient relationship. The emergence of modern technology and socialization itself is another challenge, with the nature of change ethical issues remains the same.