Who's to blame?

From Volume 51, Issue 9, October 2024 | Pages 607-608

Authors

Ewen McColl

BSc(Hons), BDS, MFDS, FDS RCPS, MCGDent, MRD RCS Ed, MClinDent, FDS RCS(Rest Dent), FHEA, FDTF(Ed), , BSc (Hons), FCGDent, FDTFEd, FFD RCSI

Director of Clinical Dentistry; Peninsula Dental School, University of Plymouth

Articles by Ewen McColl

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Article

We live in an ever increasing ‘blame culture’, which manifests in wider society and ever increasingly in the field of clinical dentistry. While patients may look to blame clinicians when things go wrong, increasingly clinicians look to blame each other. These ‘blue on blue’ disputes may be over not just clinical matters, but business and contractual disputes. In both cases, some sort of compensation or punitive action may be sought, rather than a focus on how to resolve the matter or prevent a re-occurrence.

When things do go wrong and complications arise, it is perhaps human nature to look to appropriate blame to either someone or something, sometimes both. In the close confines of the oral cavity, where scalpels, instruments and high-speed drills are used daily, it is perhaps surprising that the vast majority of procedures are undertaken safely and without incident. This is testament to the training and skill of clinicians, with safety being paramount, while often dealing with very challenging clinical scenarios.

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