title: Ethical advertising in dentistry.
abstract: Advertising in dentistry has steadily increased since the 1970s to become a leading choice of many dentists to promote their practices. The manner in which advertising progresses within the profession affects all dentists and how patients perceive dentistry as a profession. This paper presents ethical concepts that should be followed when dentists are pursuing practice promotion through advertising. It also raises questions that, hopefully, will increase attention and discussion on dental advertising. The paper concludes that ethical advertising is easily achieved by promoting patient education while not placing the dentist's self-interests ahead of the patient's. With this approach, dentistry may continue to be one of the most trusted professions.
authors.affiliation: perdds@optonline.net
authors.forename: Joseph P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Graskemper
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising / Q000145:classification / Q000941:ethics*; D000571:American Dental Association; D026686:Beneficence; D032781:Codes of Ethics; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics; D003815:Dentists / Q000941:ethics; D004990:Ethics, Dental; D006801:Humans; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000941:ethics; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000941:ethics; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011361:Professional Competence; D012941:Social Responsibility; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States