[Who would suffer this child in the cold? History and diagnosis during a Socratic dialogue]

This article gives an account of the experiences of 12 dentists (11 general practitioners and one periodontist) during a one-day Socratic dialogue, which took place at the International Conference for Dentists in Bruges 2001. The key question was: "When must I (or mustn't I) comply with the patient's wish?" The participants tackled an example from Edgar, general practitioner. His story went like this: on Christmas Eve, dinnertime, one of his patients--duly instructed beforehand--arrived just like that, and said: "I'm in pain". When the central question was applied to this example, uncertainty arose about the exact nature of "the patient's wish". In this article you read how the participants dealt with the "pain", with the uncertainty.