COMPLIANCE IN DENTAL CLINICS: NEEDS, CRITERIA, AND IMPLEMENTATION MODELS

Abstract

This chapter examines compliance in dental clinics as a legal-functional framework for clinical governance and risk management, with direct implications for harm prevention, the duty of care, and the assessment of evidence in civil liability disputes, particularly in implant dentistry. It argues that contemporary dentistry has shifted toward organizational and digital models—multiprofessional clinics, standardized protocols, and intensive use of electronic systems—while litigation has increased, often driven by aesthetic/functional expectations and claims of informational failure. Compliance is not treated as mere formal adherence to rules, but as an organizational arrangement involving risk mapping, allocation of responsibilities, evidence-based clinical protocols, training, auditing, and incident-response mechanisms, with emphasis on qualified informed consent, documentary governance, and the protection of sensitive health data. The chapter further contends that contemporaneous documentation (electronic records, system logs, and version control) reduces reliance on retrospective expert evidence, mitigates cognitive biases, and improves factual reconstruction. A functional perspective is offered regarding Brazil and Argentina: in Brazil, compliance emerges from the integration of sanitary, professional-ethical, consumer, procedural, and data-protection norms; in Argentina, patient-rights legislation—especially informed consent and the clinical record—plays a more directly typified role, alongside corporate integrity programs applicable to legal entities. The chapter concludes that proportionate and auditable compliance strengthens patient protection and enhances legal certainty for implant dentists.