Informed Consent In a Dental Outreach Program -What patients want to know before their dental treatment?

Background: Before providing care or treatment to a patient, the dentist must obtain the individual’s informed consent. This requirement is based on two principles: personal inviolability and free will. Early determination of issues important to patients could therefore be the first step towards provision of an effective and meaningful care. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study to determine what patients really want to know when dental treatment was advised to them in the outreach programs conducted by Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Mangalore in Mangalore city. A convenient sample of 140 subjects was selected for the study. A self-assessment questionnaire of Dawes which was modified was used for the study. The assessment of pre-operative anxiety of patients presenting to the outreach program is assessed with Modified Dental Anxiety Scale. Results: A total of 131 respondents answered the questionnaire with a response rate of more than 90 percent out of which, 39 % were male respondents. Majority of the patients knew about the informed consent (93%) and thought it was a legal document (74.8%), with the mean anxiety score of 9.31. There was significant association between levels of knowledge and anxiety scores in individual (P= 0.23) and difference between knowledge between different socioeconomic status and knowledge (p= 0.01). Conclusion: This study explores a very vital link in the treatment of patients, the results demonstrate that there is substantial void in the knowledge of patients attending dental outreach program in Mangalore.