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Minerva Medicolegale 2002 December;122(4): 183-9

Copyright © 2002 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Legal considerations on the theme of professional liability in dental surgery

Zaami S., Montanari Vergallo G.

Implantology is a complex surgical technique which is becoming clinically and scientifically reliable, thus presenting a valid alternative to traditional dental prosthesis. However, a careful evaluation of the risk-benefit relationship is important. After careful selection of patient and precise surgical planning, this assessment must be decided in each case. In the case of surgical accidents, it's important to remember that involuntary lesion of the jaws or mouth, or in cases where therapy is not successful, that the forensic physician will carry out a more careful evaluation and that lesions or lack of success could be caused by errors of the operator or by variables in biological reactions. These case could be considered as professional liability and in fact, ever more frequently, physicians have been charged with a mild responsibility.