Course Syllabus
Title: Ethics and Dental Public Health
Hours: 4-6
Year: 1st or 2nd
Course Description
The purpose of the course is to compare and contrast the ethical principles, issues and reasoning
related to the practice of population-based dental public health and that of the dental practitioner
who focuses on the oral health of the individual patient. The emphasis is on raising the awareness of
the professional in recognizing ethical issues and analyzing them within the framework of the
population-based practice. Students will understand the importance of research ethics and informed
consents. Case studies will be offered to stimulate discussion and deeper understanding of the
complexities facing dental practitioners and public health professionals.
Course Competency:
1. Demonstrate the ability to incorporate ethical reasoning and actions that promote culturally
competent oral health care to individuals and populations
Course Objectives
1. On successful completion of this course, students will be prepared to:
 Recognize the similarities and differences in the mission of dental practitioners versus the
dental public health practitioner and how to respond to common ethical issues facing each.
 Describe the principles and values underlying dental public health and compare to those for
dental practitioners.
 Demonstrate how the Code of Ethics developed for dental practitioners will differ from that
for dental public health practitioner.
 Describe and apply a framework for analyzing the decisions and actions to be made by
dental public health professionals.
1
Course Contents
Mission for Dental Public Health and Dental Practitioners
Principles and Values for Dental and Public Health Practitioners
Professionalism: Practicing within a code of ethics
Decision-making in Dental Public Health Ethics: A framework for evaluating an ethical issue
Examining the ethical issues related to community oral health promotion and disease prevention.
Course Assessment of Students' Achievement of Course Objectives
Students' attainment of course objectives will be assessed by three methods: (1) a written assessment
of a case scenarios depicting a dental public health ethical issue (which could be the elder abuse
case or the vending machine rules in schools); and (2) student participation in the classroom
discussions.
Course Readings
American Dental Association. ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct,
Chicago:2011.
American Student Dental Association. White Paper on Ethics & Professionalism in Dental
Education. Chicago: 2009.
http://www.asdanet.org/uploadedFiles/The_Issues/ASDA%20White%20Paper%20FinalNewcomb.pdf
Bates MN., et al. “Health effects of dental amalgam exposure: a retrospective cohort study.” Int. J.
Epidemiol. (2004) 33 (4): 894-902. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyh164. First published online: May 20, 2004.
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/4/894.full.pdf+html.
Childress JF, et al. “Public Health Ethics: Mapping the Terrain.” J Law, Med & Ethics, (2002)
30:169-177.
http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/docs/CDC.Childress.web.pdf
Friedman JW, Atchison KA. The Standard of Care: An Ethical Responsibility of Public Health
Dentistry. J of Pub Hlth Dent, (1993) 53(3): 165-169.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-7325.1993.tb02696.x/pdf
Gostin LO., ed. Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader, UC Press, 2010.
2
Gostin LO, Powers M. “What Does Social Justice Require for the Public’s Health? Public Health
Ethics and Policy Imperatives.” Health Affairs, (2006) 25(4): 1053-1060.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/25/4/1053.full.pdf+html
The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. (2002) 30 (2). First published online Jan 24, 2007.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jlme.2002.30.issue-2/issuetoc.
Kass NE. “An Ethics Framework for Public Health.” Am J Public Health. 2001; 91:1776–1782.
Krasse B. The Vipeholm Dental Caries Study: Recollections and reflections 50 years later. J Dent
Res 2001; 80: 1785-1788.
Needleman HL. “Orofacial trauma in child abuse: types, prevalence, management, and the dental
profession’s involvement.” Ped Dent, (1986) 8(1): 71-80.
http://www.aapd.org/upload/articles/Needleman-08-S1.pdf
The New York Times, articles about Flouride:
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/fluorides/index.html
North Carolina Institute for Public Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health:
http://oce.sph.unc.edu/phethics/.
Tilden VP, Schmidt TA, Limandri BJ, Chiodo GT, Garland MJ, Loveless PA. “Factors that
influence clinicians' assessment and management of family violence.” Am J Public Health, (1994)
84(4): 628-633. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.84.4.628.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1614797/pdf/amjph00455-0102.pdf
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People.gov: Oral Health Community
Interventions. http://healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/ebr.aspx?topicId=32
3