RELIGION, SUBJECTIVITY AND ORAL HEALTH ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY

The spiritual development of the child must occupy a main place among the interests of the practicing dentist, the physiological premonitions related to the child oral health being often connected in this age period with spirituality and faith. In this way, the child patients are continuously facing a straight association between their own growth and development, doctor and spirituality. This article aims to study the relationship between subjectivism, spirituality or religion and paediatric oral health, thus delimitating the possible ethical dilemmas which the paediatric dentist would encounter in his practice, together with his deontologically required constant concerning about the spiritual values of the patient and his family. Despite the fact that the therapeutic option or following a certain treatment are subordinated to the autonomy of the patient or his legal representatives, in many cases this autonomy can be affected by variable degrees of religious devotion, an aspect hard to quantify in scientific studies. Various aspects like the substances used in the dental practice, the recommended dietetic hygienic-alimentary regime, establishing the visit to the dentist or its duration can be therefore decisively influenced by patient religion and culture. The paediatric dentist must be always ready to meet subjective customs, practices, beliefs or superstitions and to consider them seriously as an integrant part of his professional relation. Through the multitude of the existing professional relationships, their frequency and the special quality of the involved parts, the doctor-patient relationship in the dental area, mostly in the paediatric field should be of more concern for the bioethical research community.