Do dentist take an oath like a medical doctor?

Im curious because im having a difficult time finding a dentist who will work with an autistic child or even sedate to work on his teeth.. He has been referred from one dentist to another for the past 2 yrs and still no one will clean his teeth they just see him say i cant help him and refer him to another dentist saying they can help you...so i call set it up take him in and it starts all over again. Can they keep doing this and denying care?

Do dentist take an oath like a medical doctor?
I'm a dentist.





To answer your questions: Yes, we do take an oath similar to that taken by physicians.





And yes, we can refuse to treat certain patients indefinitely, provided we have an acceptable reason for refusing to treat them.





I understand your frustration. I really do. But I think you are beginning to blame the wrong people. Unfortunately, autistic children have special needs where the administration of dental care is concerned. And even more unfortunately, the dental profession and its educational system as a whole have been grossly negligent in producing doctors who are able to treat such patients.





Basically, as you have seen, it boils down to finding a doctor who can provide anesthesia services or one who has access to them (such as a dentist with hospital operating room privileges). Oral/maxillofacial surgeons are the only dentists who have anesthesia training that allows them to adequately sedate an autistic child. Unfortunately, they do not provide basic dental care. General dentists who have such anesthesia training are exceedingly rare. Furthermore, it is also rare to find a general dentists with operating room privileges. Although many of us general dentists would like to have the kind of anesthesia training oral surgeons do, there is very little access to such training. Moreover, where operating room (OR) privileges are concerned, we have virtually no need for them; none of the procedures we perform necessitate OR facilities. Furthermore, we encounter patients like your son far too infrequently for us to justify the effort it takes to acquire and maintain such OR privileges. Put simply, the dental profession as a whole is just not geared toward accessibility for disabled patients simply because the majority of dental professionals just don't think the effort it takes to treat them is worthwhile. It's unfortunate.





Sometimes, pediatric dentists do have OR privileges, but they typically do not treat patients over the age of 18. You can always contact a pediatric dentist and ask.





Another option is contacting an oral surgeon and seeing if he/she would be willing to administer anesthesia while a general dentist treats your son.





Other than that, your options are few. And on behalf of the dental profession, I apologize.
Reply:go to a pediatric dentist
Reply:Yes, like medical doctors, dentists take an oath. Part of that oath is to do no harm. An autistic child can be very difficult to work on. Certainly no one would want to inflict any harm upon your child. If they are not equipped to work on your child then they rightfully refer him onto a specialist or someone who is able to perform the work.


I am very surprised that Pedodontists are not able to work on him and they refer your son on. Pedodontists as specialists are usually end of the line for those tough cases. But the idea above to seek out a hospital setting might be very helpful. Good luck and find the dentist you need to take good care of your son.
Reply:i m a dentist.the above what dr nebula has said is right