Knowledge of Dental Ethics and Jurisprudence Among Dental Practitioners in Pune: A Questionnaire Survey

Objective Dental ethics is a moral obligation that solicits professional behaviour imposed by the members of the dental profession. In addition, a set of legal regulations by each state's legislature describing the legal limitations and regulations related to dentistry, dental hygiene, and dental assisting is a part of dental jurisprudence. The present study aims to evaluate the knowledge regarding ethics and medical law for the practice among private practitioners in Pune, India. Materials and methods This was a cross-sectional study. The snowball sampling method (a randomization method) was used to contact all the registered practitioners for the study. A total of 250 dentists agreed to provide written informed consent and participate in the study. The collected data were entered into Microsoft Excel 2013 sheet (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) and cleaned, and statistical analysis was carried out using Epi Info software (CDC, Atlanta, GA). All p-values below 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. Results A total of 250 dentists participated in the present study. Female postgraduate dentists had lesser knowledge of abbreviations used on dental boards. Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) dentists had more knowledge regarding dental jurisprudence than Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) practitioners. Conclusions The present study highlighted the lack of awareness regarding dental ethics and jurisprudence among dental practitioners. It underlines the need for more education programs and curriculum changes with a focus on ethics, jurisprudence, and legal matters pertaining to clinical practice.