Article 8

Fundamental Duty

1. All dentists must guarantee the best possible oral care for their patients, at all times behaving with rectitude and politeness.

2. Dentists shall be held responsible for inadequate oral care, as well as oral care visibly inappropriate under objective circumstances in which a different behaviour was to be expected.

Article 9

Practising Conditions

1. Dentists must provide oral care in the best possible conditions, in order to meet their patients¿ needs for treatment.

2. Dentists are entitled to their own free clinical and ethical judgements, as well as to make their own decisions concerning diagnosis and therapy, always acting in an independent way.

Article 10

Emergencies

1. Dentists must provide their services, for which they are specifically qualified, to any person in an emergency situation.

2. "Emergency" is understood to mean the imminent danger to the health or the life of a patient.

Article 11

Conscientious Objection

Dentists have the right to refuse to perform any professional act which goes against their moral, religious or humanitarian principles, or is in breach of medical ethics.

Article 12

The Patient's Freedom of Choice

1. The patient is free to choose his or her dentist.

2. Dentists shall not agree to provide dental care that does not result from the patient¿s free and direct choice, except when this free choice is physically or legally impossible.

3. Dentists must support and safeguard the patient's right of free choice, and shall not participate in any project, scheme or agreement that may constrain the patient¿s freedom or his or her capacity to use that right.

Article 13

Change of Dentist

1. Patients are free to change their dentists, who must at all times respect that right.

2. If requested by the patient, the dentist must help him or her to choose a new dental practitioner, behaving in an unbiased way and following his or her professional principles, in the patient¿s best interest.

Article 14

The Dentist's Freedom of Choice

1. Dentists are free to choose their patients and may, if justified, refuse to provide care.

2. Dentists shall not, however, exercise any type of discrimination against human rights.

Article 15

Duty of Care

1. When treating a patient, the dentist has the obligation to provide that care for which he or she has the training and experience, taking full responsibility for his or her actions.

2. The dentist's competence lies basically on his or her knowledge, skill and experience, updated with the most recent advances in the field of dentistry.

3. If necessary, dentists shall ask for the assistance of a colleague or refer the patient to a more qualified dental practitioner.

Article 16

Continued Care

1. Dentists must ensure the continuity of the care provided to their patients.

2. Nevertheless, dentists are entitled to discontinue a patient¿s treatment when the following three conditions are met:

a) the patient's health is not jeopardized, if he or she can be attended by another, equally qualified dentist;

b) the dentist has provided all the necessary information for the regular continuation of the treatment;

c) the dentist has informed the patient or his/her family in advance.

3. The dentist also has the right to interrupt the treatment of any patient who, without any justification, has failed to pay for previous expenses and fees, except in the case of an emergency.

Article 17

Disclosure of Information

1. The dentist must inform the patient or his/her family or proxy, about the diagnosis and therapeutic methods to be used, as well as give his/her assessment of the patient¿s oral health.

2. In case of unfavourable prognosis, the dentist may withhold that information from the patient, though he or she must inform the patient's family or proxy.

3. The dentist must discuss the recommended treatment with his or her patient.

4. When, in connection with a treatment, a drug or product may be administered which is not generally accepted or acknowledged by the dental profession, the dentist shall caution his or her patient about that fact.

5. Dentists shall not guarantee the full success of an intervention or treatment.

6. If, after being properly informed, the patient, his or her family or proxy should refuse to submit to the recommended treatment, the dentist shall be entitled to discontinue the patient's treatment.

Article 18

Risky Methods

1. Before deciding on a risky diagnosis or therapeutic method, the dentist shall obtain the consent, preferably in written from, from the patient, or from his or her proxy if the patient is under age or permanently or temporarily incapacitated.

2. Under no circumstances shall the dentist betray the good faith of his or her colleagues or patients by describing an insufficiently tested procedure as tested and safe.

Article 19

Unlicensed and Experimental Therapies

1. Dentists shall avoid the use of any scientifically unfounded diagnosis or therapeutic method and risky experimental treatment, as well as of diagnosis or therapeutic procedure that may induce a morbid state of mind or result in mental disorder reducing self-determination, except when, always in the patient¿s best interest, the patient or proxy has given his or her formal consent, preferably in written form, after being fully informed of the treatment and the risks that it carries.

2. Under no circumstances shall the dentist betray the good faith of his or her colleagues or patients in what concerns that mentioned above in the previous paragraph.

Article 20

Files

1. Dentists shall keep files containing the records of all their patients.

2. These files are the dentist¿s professional property.

3. A clinical record for each patient shall be opened and kept up-to-date, detailing the name of the dentist performing each treatment, the patient¿s personal data and medical and dental history, as well as clinical observations, diagnoses and therapies carried out.

4. Access to the patient¿s clinical record and disclosure of its contents are subject to the regimen of professional confidentiality.

Article 21

Confidentiality

1. Dental practitioners are bound to professional secrecy regarding all the information related to their patients and obtained in the course of their professional practice, whether or not this information is contained in the patients¿ clinical records.

2. Likewise, all the dentist¿s staff, as well as those who assist him or her in the practice of dentistry, must submit to the code of confidentiality regarding all the facts learnt by them in the consulting rooms and in the course of their work, as long as these facts are protected by the dentist-patient confidentiality, for which the dentist will be held accountable.

3. The dentist can provide information to his or her patient or to a third party designated by the patient.

4. If, as specified in the previous paragraph, a third party is involved, the dentist has the right to demand a written declaration by the patient, giving this third party power of proxy to act on his or her behalf.

5. The disclosure of any type of information subject to professional secrecy, except in the cases mentioned in paragraphs 3 and 4, depend on prior authorisation granted by the Portuguese Dental Association.

6. The disclosure of the data referred to in paragraph 1 for academic, scientific or professional purposes, shall not be considered a breach of professional confidentiality, as long as the identity of the patient is not revealed.

7. Any depositions provided by the dentist in breach of the code of confidentiality, cannot be used as testimony in a court of law nor in any other type of procedure.

Article 22

Fees

(For Revision)

Article 23

Receipts

1. The receipt shall identify the dental practitioner who has performed the intervention.

2. It is strictly forbidden to hand out a receipt in the name of a dentist other than that who has carried out the intervention.

3. Exceptions to numbers 1 and 2 above are those established in articles nos. 26 and 27.