Minnesota Dental Jurisprudence Practice Exam

Which of the following is true regarding record keeping in dental practice?

1. Records should be kept indefinitely

2. Records must be transferred to a new dentist upon request

3. Missed appointments do not need to be recorded

4. Patient records are confidential and should not be shared without consent

The correct answer is: Patient records are confidential and should not be shared without consent

In dental practice, patient confidentiality is a paramount concern, and the principle that patient records are confidential and should not be shared without consent is a fundamental part of ethical medical practice as well as legal requirements. This means that any information contained within a patient's record must be protected and only disclosed to authorized individuals who have received explicit permission from the patient. Maintaining confidentiality helps to foster trust between patients and their healthcare providers. It is a standard legal requirement to ensure patient privacy, and violating this principle can lead to legal repercussions for the dental practice. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), for example, provides guidelines on how patient information should be handled, further emphasizing the need for consent before sharing any sensitive information. On the other hand, while it is true that records should be kept for a significant length of time, the notion that they must be kept indefinitely is not universally accurate as regulations can vary regarding the minimum retention period. Records must be transferred upon request, but this typically occurs under specific circumstances such as a patient moving to a new provider, and not automatically for every request. Lastly, while it's important to keep track of missed appointments for practice management, it is often not deemed necessary to record every single missed appointment in formal patient records.