Patients who make terrible therapeutic choices

Area of Science:

• Dental Ethics
• Philosophy of Medicine
• Virtue Ethics

Background:

• Traditional dental ethics rely on principles, deontology, and utilitarianism.
• These methods are often insufficient when patient values conflict with dental recommendations.
• Ethical impasses arise with patients refusing treatment due to differing ethical frameworks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the utility of virtue ethics in addressing complex dental ethical scenarios.
• To propose virtue ethics as a complementary approach to traditional ethical frameworks in dentistry.
• To examine how virtue ethics can resolve intractable ethical challenges in patient care.

Main Methods:

• Review of traditional ethical theories (principles, deontology, utilitarianism).
• Introduction to virtue ethics, tracing its origins to Plato and Aristotle.
• Application of virtue ethics principles to clinical dental ethical dilemmas.

Main Results:

• Virtue ethics provides a holistic character-based framework for ethical decision-making.
• It enables dentists to diagnose underlying issues in patient non-compliance.
• This approach can foster better patient habits and resolve previously intractable ethical conflicts.

Conclusions:

• Virtue ethics offers a valuable alternative or supplement to rule-based dental ethics.
• It empowers dentists to navigate complex patient interactions and ethical disagreements.
• Focusing on character and habit formation can lead to more effective ethical resolutions in dentistry.