Mário Marques Fernandes

Ethical and legal considerations on professional liability of the orthodontist

INTRODUCTION: After the enactment of Law 8078, of September 11, 1990, the Consumers Defense Code implied important alterations in Brazils legal scenario, providing a greater balance in the relationship between consumers and service providers. From this law, dental surgeons came to establish a consumer relationship with their clients. OBJECTIVE: Due to the ethical and legal issues against the dental professionals, this work makes general considerations about the nature of the dentist´s obligation in services, specifically in Orthodontics. CONCLUSION: The responsibility of the professional shall be restricted to predictable risks and undertaken obligations. When the professional warns the client in a correct, clear and express manner, it will lower the chances of being later charged.

Effectiveness of three age estimation methods based on dental and skeletal development in a sample of young Brazilians

OBJECTIVE This study compared three methods designed for age estimation. METHODS A sample of 468 radiographs (234 panoramic and 234 carpal radiographs) collected from patients ranging from 5 to 14 years old (mean age: 11.27years old±2.27years) was used. Three age estimation methods: were applied: one founded on dental development, one founded on hand and wrist development, and a method combining both measurements. For each method, the mean error (ME), mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean percentage of absolute error (MPAE) were quantified. The methods: were compared based on their effectiveness for estimating age in relation to sex and age range. RESULTS The data show that the method exclusively using the development of the hand and wrist had the highest error rates (ME: 1.28M, 1.85F; MAE: 1.64M, 1.96F; RMSE: 1.94M, 2.32F) for both males (M) and females (F). In males, the method combining dental and skeletal development obtained outcomes that were slightly better than the method founded on only dental development (MPAE: 6.99% and 7.47%, respectively). In females, the opposite result was observed (MPAE: 8.48% and 6.59%, respectively). The method founded exclusively on skeletal development significantly overestimated (p=0.001) the age (mean chronological and estimated ages: 11.27 and 12.88, respectively). CONCLUSION The methods involving dental development provided more accurate age estimates of chronological age. The method exclusively based on hand and wrist development resulted in outcomes that were highly discrepant from the chronological age.

Avaliação do grau de conhecimento do cirurgião-dentista a respeito das manchas de sangue no contexto forense

Objetivo: o presente trabalho buscou verificar o grau de conhecimento do cirurgiao-dentista sobre aspectos relacionados ao efeito forense do sangue cenografico em diferentes superficies, bem como confirmar a reprodutibilidade de modelos de manchas propostos por Simonin¹ (1966), variando ângulos de incidencia e superficies. Metodos: a amostra foi constituida por cirurgioes-dentistas dos cursos de atualizacao e especializacao da Escola de Aperfeicoamento Profissional da Associacao Brasileira de Odontologia, Porto Alegre, RS. Para a realizacao da pesquisa, foram criados quatro tipos de manchas de sangue teatral com morfologias diferentes (“esfregaco”, “poca” ou “contato”, “escorrimento” e “espargimento”) em superficies de papel (folha A4) e outras seis manchas variando a angulacao (45o e 90o) em tres superficies distintas (jeans, pano e papel). Apos, os componentes da amostra avaliaram as imagens. As respostas foram tabuladas e analisadas estatisticamente. Resultados: sobre a composicao das manchas, 53,2% (n=33) dos pesquisados acertaram a questao. Em relacao a classificacao das manchas, o tipo esfregaco obteve um escore de acertos de 82,3% (n=51) e a angulagem que mais atingiu respostas corretas foi de 90 graus, com 69,3% (n= 43). Conclusao: foi possivel concluir que, embora a maioria dos pesquisados tivessem conhecimentos parciais em relacao ao tema proposto, desconhecem que a pericia em vestigios como manchas ou liquidos oriundos da cavidade bucal ou nela presentes e uma das areas de competencia para atuacao do especialista em Odontologia Legal.