Ethics and professionalism CPD for health practitioners in Australia [email protected]
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Online course · Australia

Ethics and Ethical Standards for Dental Practitioners

Applying the Dental Board's Code to Consent, Fees, Advertising and Care

  • About 2 hours
  • 15 scenario questions
  • Reflective account
  • Certificate of completion
  • Online, self-paced

About this course

Dentistry asks the same person to diagnose, recommend and sell treatment, often to a patient who cannot judge the work. That built-in conflict, together with elective and aesthetic care, gives dental ethics its own shape. This course helps dental practitioners reason through it with confidence.

The first section explains the ethical shape of the dental relationship and introduces a method for reasoning that you can apply chairside. The course then covers consent in depth: what makes it valid, children and young people, older patients and aged care, refusal, withdrawal and dental anxiety.

Money gets the attention it deserves. Lessons cover informed financial consent, the conflict built into recommending and providing treatment, discounts, payment plans and third-party finance, and honest claiming. Later sections deal with need versus want, minimal intervention, aesthetic and cosmetic dentistry, second opinions about another practitioner's work, honesty about poor outcomes, the ethics behind the advertising rules, access and fairness, patients with blood-borne viruses, cultural safety and suspected abuse or neglect.

The course ends with worked dilemmas on family and friends as patients, gifts, concerns about colleagues and commercial pressure on employed practitioners, followed by a reflective account for your records.

What you will learn

  • Recognise the points where a treatment recommendation and practice income pull in different directions
  • Work through a chairside dilemma with a simple, repeatable reasoning method
  • Give patients a genuine choice of options, risks and costs, including children and adults who need decision support
  • Make financial consent clear before treatment starts, including when finance or payment plans are involved
  • Weigh need against want and keep aesthetic work grounded in minimal intervention
  • Check your advertising, images and online reviews against section 133 before they go live
  • Treat every patient fairly and safely, and know what to do when you suspect abuse or neglect
  • Hold your ground when targets, owners or colleagues push against what is right for the patient

Who this course is for

  • General and specialist dentists
  • Dental hygienists and therapists, and oral health therapists in public or private clinics
  • Dental prosthetists
  • Associates working under targets in corporate or group practices
  • Practice owners who set fee, finance and marketing policies

How the course works

  1. Enrol online and the course appears under My Courses in your Probity Courses account, ready to open on a computer, tablet or phone.

  2. Work through 7 sections and 26 short lessons in order, at your own pace. Your place is saved in the browser you use, so you can stop and come back.

  3. Use the key points, scenarios and reflection prompts in each section, and write your own notes as you go; they stay with your course pack.

  4. Finish with a 15-question final assessment. You need 12 correct answers (80%) to pass, and you can retake it after a short pause if needed.

  5. Write your reflective account, submit the short feedback form and your completion is recorded. Download a certificate of completion stating the estimated learning time (about 2 hours); record the time you actually spend.

Course content

8 sections · About 2 hours · 15-question final assessment

1Why Ethics in Dentistry Is Distinctive3 lessons
  • The Ethical Shape of the Dental Relationship
  • Ethical Principles and the Shared Code
  • A Method for Ethical Reasoning
2Autonomy and Consent in the Dental Chair4 lessons
  • What Makes Consent Valid
  • Children and Young People
  • Capacity, Older Patients and Aged Care
  • Refusal, Withdrawal and Dental Anxiety
3Fees, Financial Consent and Conflicts of Interest4 lessons
  • Informed Financial Consent
  • Recommending and Providing: The Built-in Conflict
  • Discounts, Payment Plans and Third-Party Finance
  • Honest Claiming
4Clinical Judgement, Aesthetics and Honesty About Outcomes4 lessons
  • Need, Want and Minimal Intervention
  • Ethics of Aesthetic and Cosmetic Dentistry
  • Second Opinions and Other Practitioners' Work
  • Honesty When Outcomes Are Poor
5Advertising and Honest Representation3 lessons
  • The Ethics Behind the Advertising Rules
  • Images, Testimonials and Social Media
  • Titles, Qualifications and Offers
6Justice, Access and Vulnerable Patients4 lessons
  • Fairness and Access to Care
  • Discrimination and Patients With Blood-Borne Viruses
  • Culturally Safe Care
  • Suspected Abuse and Neglect
7Dilemmas, Boundaries and Ethical Courage4 lessons
  • Family, Friends, Gifts and Dual Relationships
  • Concerns About a Colleague
  • Commercial Pressure and the Employed Practitioner
  • Bringing It Together: Worked Dilemmas
8Conclusion, Final Assessment and Reflection4 lessons
  • Conclusion and key points
  • References and quick-reference guide
  • Final assessment (15 questions, 80% pass mark)
  • Your reflective account

Assessment and certificate

  • Certificate of completion stating the estimated learning time (about 2 hours); record the time you actually spend.
  • A written reflective account you can keep with your CPD records.

Questions about this course

Which dental registrants is it designed for?

All five divisions of the dental register: dentists (including those with specialist registration), dental hygienists, dental therapists, oral health therapists and dental prosthetists. Examples are drawn from each.

Does it cover payment plans and dental finance?

Yes. A lesson looks at discounts, payment plans and third-party finance arrangements, and how to keep financial consent clear when a patient is borrowing to pay for treatment.

How does it deal with cosmetic dentistry?

It separates clinical need from patient preference, applies minimal intervention thinking to aesthetic requests and explains when declining or referring is the ethical choice.

Is it different from the dental professionalism course?

Yes. This course is about ethical reasoning, consent, fees and honesty. The professionalism course covers scope, infection control, records and CPD.

Can I count this course towards my CPD?

That is your call under your Board's CPD standard: you choose activities that match your scope and the learning needs in your plan. If this course fits, file the certificate of completion, record the time you actually spend and note one change you will make in practice.

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