Ethical considerations in digital marketing among dental professionals

Background : The advertising regarding dentistry in India is a controversial issue. The Government of India hasn't banned advertising. Social media is an attractive means of advertising. Dentistry like any other profession needs a certain level of marketing to reach its technical advances and latest options to people. This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge regarding digital marketing of dental practices and its ethical consideration in the society. Materials and methods : A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 115 dental practitioners. A self -administered structured questionnaire was prepared based on knowledge, attitude on digital marketing of dental practices and it's ethical consideration with questions. Survey was done using an online form. The statistics were done using SPSS software, chi square test was used to check the association and a p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results : Among the 115 study participants,56.41% of dentists considered advertising by health care professionals as ethical. 84.62% of the dental practitioners felt that misleading practices are not ethically acceptable. Surprisingly, 35.90% of the dentists felt that advertising is necessary but the same percentage of dentists that is 35.90% felt that advertising is not necessary. Conclusion : The aim of the study was to analyse knowledge , attitude on digital marketing of dental practices and it's ethical consideration. According to the study conducted, dental practitioners felt that there is a need for advertising in dentistry unless any misleading practices take place. But most of the dentists also felt that advertising may have the potential to degrade the image of the profession.