title: Infectious disease in dental practice--professional opportunities and obligations.
abstract: This article presents one author's view of the dentist's obligations to patients, to the community, to the profession, and to the principles of ethics in a highly troubling time of serious infectious diseases. It essentially is an optimistic view that, while the epidemic of AIDS will continue and tuberculosis may become a graver problem in certain health care settings, the dental profession possesses the education, ethical insights, and technical training needed to meet with grace and authority the challenges of practice in this era of infectious disease.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, School of Dental and Oral Surgery, New York, NY 10032.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Neidle
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D003141:Communicable Diseases; D003149:Community Dentistry; D003219:Confidentiality; D003729:Dental Care; D017742:Dental Care for Chronically Ill / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D003815:Dentists; D004498:Education, Dental, Continuing; D004990:Ethics, Dental; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D028681:Moral Obligations; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000150:complications; D010344:Patient Advocacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D016079:Refusal to Treat / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012586:Science; D012941:Social Responsibility