The law is an ass: legal and ethical issues surrounding the bleaching of young patients’ discoloured teeth

Abstract

Dentists in general, but paediatric dentists in particular, have important ethical and legal duties of care to young patients. When it comes to considering dental bleaching for young people in the UK there are some serious dilemmas that arise from various European Community (EC) directives and from the (somewhat flawed) thinking behind them. This article seeks to interrogate this troubling position and expose some of the more curious scenarios created by this complex regulatory environment. One of the big questions that needs to be addressed honestly and more openly is ‘are dentists who follow these regulations without question and to the letter at real risk of compromising their greater and over-riding ethical duty of proper care for their younger patients?’