ArticleBritish dental journal2015
Informed consent in primary dental care: patients' understanding and satisfaction with the consent process.
Article in British dental journal, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Informed consent in dental care and research for the older adult population: A systematic review.Journal of the American Dental Association (1939) · 2017Pooled it
- Broad consent in the emergency department: a cross sectional study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
- Dentists' perspectives, practices, and factors associated with informed consent process for fixed prosthodontic treatment: a cross-sectional study of kampala metropolitan area, Uganda.BMC oral health · 2024Article
- Assessment of the informed consent process in the provision of dental care in Mulago hospital, Uganda.BMC oral health · 2022Article
- Does the general public have concerns with dental anesthetics?Journal of dental anesthesia and pain medicine · 2021Article
- Role of the consent form in UK veterinary practice.The Veterinary record · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimThe purpose of the consent process is to give patients enough information to allow them to make an informed decision and preserve their autonomy. The patient's satisfaction and also their understanding of the consent process are audited only rarely and reports of such audits in dental practice are sparse. Reports from other specialties indicate that patients' understanding of the process is incomplete and often incorrect. We set about to perform such an audit to assess both our patients' satisfaction and their understanding of the consent process itself.
designA prospective questionnaire study of adults with capacity.
settingPrimary care dental practice.
designA two-part questionnaire was designed, based on a questionnaire used for a similar purpose in paediatric surgery; the first part assessed the patient's opinion and satisfaction with the consent obtained by their dental professional and the second part assessed their understanding of the consent process in general and the legal issues around it.
resultsPart 1 - satisfaction with the consent process. Patients reported high level of satisfaction with the consent process at the practice (near 100% in major factors analysed). Part 2 - Understanding of the consent process. Significant misconceptions were identified: 60% thought that the form was for the protection of the dentist/hospital and 10-16% thought that by signing a consent form they relinquish their rights. A high level of patients' uncertainty (19-27%) was also evident for several of the questions.
conclusionsAlthough this study shows a very high level of patient satisfaction with the consent process at our dental practice, it also demonstrates very significant deficiencies in the patients' understanding of the consent process itself. This study corroborates the findings of other investigators in different medical disciplines and calls into question the adequacy of the current consent procedures as many patients are still unaware of the legal implications of consent; the majority of patients still do not recognise that the consent process should primarily be serving their interests by allowing them to express their autonomous choice pertaining to their treatment. Education will help reduce this discrepancy and promote a change from the past 'paternalistic' to the current 'informative, patient-centred' model of care.
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Registered trials
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