Patient safety in dentistry: dental care risk management plan.

OBJECTIVES

Although the safety of patients has been one of the inherent concerns of dental practice, but because the proposals made in the field of dentistry are few and improperly structured, this paper constitutes an attempt to present a proposal titled "Plan for Dental Health Care Risk Management, " promoted by the General Council of Dentists of Spain, including a description of the proposed work methodology.

DESIGN

The "risk management plan " proposed in this paper is based on applying the basic concepts dealt with in patient safety to the field of dentistry, due to the fact that the available bibliography contains no specific "health care risk management plan " for dentistry specifically.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

In order to implement health care risk management in the field of dental care provided at any level throughout Spain, a seven-step plan which covers the main objectives in Patient Safety is provided.