Perception of dental surgeons on the ethical and legal aspects of exercising their profession as personal and corporate entities

ABSTRACT

Aim: To evaluate the level of knowledge of dentists of the ethical and legal aspects of exercisingtheir profession as individual and corporate entities; to observe the level of knowledge ofprofessionals on the main taxes inherent to their existence as individual and corporate entities;and to highlight the positive and negative aspects of each entity. Methods: A questionnaire wasprepared containing structured and open questions, which was sent to dentists working in thecities of Betim and Contagem (Belo Horizonte metropolitan area) in letters containing self-addressedstamped envelopes for return to the research team. The data were analyzed using descriptivestatistics. Results: 77.9% of professionals work as individual entities, 19.7% as individual andcorporate entities, and only 2.5% act solely as corporate entities. Of the professionals who workas corporate entities, 88.8% reported that the reason that led them to act as individual and/orcorporate entities was a requirement by health plans. With regard to taxes imposed on each typeof entity, 67.4% of individual entity professionals declared not knowing the main taxes related totheir profession. Conclusions: The level of knowledge of dentists regarding the ethical and legalimplications of performing their profession as individual and corporate entities is insufficient; theinterviewed professionals are not properly trained on the pertinent ethical and legal aspects oftheir profession, thus becoming vulnerable to litigation; and these professionals do not haveknowledge on the main taxes related to each type of legal entity.