Informed Consent
A legally and ethically required process in which a patient (or guardian) is provided with sufficient information about a proposed dental procedure to make a voluntary, competent decision about whether to proceed.
Full Definition
Informed consent in dental practice is both a legal requirement and an ethical obligation. It requires that the practitioner communicate to the patient — in understandable language — the nature of the proposed treatment, the expected benefits, material risks and complications, available alternatives (including no treatment), and the consequences of refusal. The signed informed consent form is a legal document and part of the patient record. Editors reviewing informed consent forms must ensure that procedure names are accurate, that risk disclosures are complete and not minimized by euphemistic language, and that any legal or regulatory language mandated by jurisdiction is preserved verbatim. 'Consent form' is acceptable as a short form but 'permission slip' should not appear in clinical documents.
Usage
Usage note: Distinguish from 'financial consent,' which addresses cost disclosures. Risk language in informed consent forms must not be paraphrased or softened without legal review.
In Context
- "The oral surgeon required a signed informed consent document before proceeding with the extraction of the impacted wisdom tooth." — Surgical pre-operative documentation
- "Editors must not soften or omit risk disclosures in informed consent forms, even if the language appears alarming to a lay reader." — Editorial review checklist