title: Digital signature of electronic dental records.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this article is to examine the feasibility of digital signature technology to guarantee the legal validation of electronic dental records.
  
  
  METHODS
  The possible uses of digital signature technology, the actual use of digital signature technology to authenticate electronic dental records, the authentication of each part of the electronic dental record, the general legal principles involved, how to digitally sign electronic dental record files, and the limitations of this method are discussed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is possible to obtain electronic dental records that carry the same legal certainty as conventional, nonelectronic records. For this purpose, each part of the electronic dental records should be digitally signed by the author of the document.
authors.affiliation: Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil. ivan_maruo@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Ivan Toshio
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Maruo
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maruo
mesh_terms: D016494:Computer Security / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards; D003792:Dental Records; D006801:Humans; D007879:Legislation, Dental; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D009970:Orthodontics / Q000592:standards*; D011786:Quality Control