Professional profile, legal obligations, and conduct of orthodontists in terms of litigation prevention

Abstract

Orthodontic treatment requires ethical and legal attitudes from professionals since the first contact with the patient. Thus, this study assessed professional profile, legal obligations in provision of care, and the conduct of orthodontists in terms of litigation prevention during their professional practice. Questionnaires were emailed to 1653 Brazilian orthodontists, asking for information such as: age, gender, graduate orthodontic education, time of work in orthodontics, place of graduate education, time since graduation, and information regarding the legal criteria involved in the orthodontic treatment. Data were tabulated using absolute and relative frequencies. The chi-square test (p<0.05) was used to verify the association among nominal qualitative variables. Only 163 orthodontists participated in the study, wherein men represented 60.5% and women 39.5% of the sample. It was clear that professionals most recently graduated are the ones that mostly use the care provision contract, and the ones that mostly request teleradiographs. The female gender offered more treatment options, clarified the estimated treatment time more often, and was less involved in legal issues. On the other hand, the male gender requested cephalometry more often. Most professionals request the control radiograph, and all of them file the medical records of patients. Few professionals use the professional liability insurance. The results of the present study indicate a highly heterogeneous professional profile. The female gender dominates the field of expertise, and they seem to be more careful regarding legal obligations.