ISSN Печать: 2151-805X
ISSN Онлайн: 2151-8068
Genomics, Ethical Issues, and the Practice of Dentistry
Краткое описание
Medicine and dental medicine are moving rapidly into a new era of dramatic change. In the practice of medicine, cancer therapy is now targeted to each patient's specific disease based on its genetic make-up (genomics), thereby reducing life-threatening side effects while improving treatment outcomes. Biotechnological advances in salivary diagnostics and rapid oral fluid testing may lead to improved treatments in the management of periodontal disease or susceptibility to certain systemic diseases through the detection of genomic transcripts. Ushering in a new era of personalized health care, dentistry must be at the vanguard to benefit patients. Genomics and its advances present opportunities and ethical challenges to clinical practitioners. Dentistry must adapt to and manage these advances in a manner consistent with our principles of ethics. In this paper, we discuss how dentistry should manage the following issues as these pertain to clinical practice, and include the following: (1) ethical and legal considerations to report test results to patients and potentially their next-of-kin; (2) counseling patients on incidental and actionable findings; (3) direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies and the doctor-patient relationship; and (4) inclusion of the ethics of genetic counseling in the dental school curriculum given advances in salivary diagnostics.