Teaching informed consent: an ethical bridge between legal dentistry and health rights

Abstract

Objective: To analyze informed consent as a bioethical link between legal dentistry and health rights in university dental training, highlighting its importance in building an ethical and legally responsible professional practice.

Methods: A qualitative, descriptive, and analytical study was conducted, based on a review of 35 scientific articles, regulatory documents, and research projects. Inclusion criteria were: publications between 2020 and 2025, in Spanish, addressing informed consent, bioethics, legal dentistry, or health rights in the dental field. Duplicate articles, articles without peer review, and studies unrelated to the health field or without a connection to university education were excluded.

Results: The results show that 92% of the documents recognize informed consent as an essential legal requirement, 88% identify it as an expression of patient autonomy, and 85% highlight its bioethical foundation. Furthermore, 76% demonstrate its inclusion in curricula, although only 54% report effective cross-curricular integration.

Conclusions: It is concluded that informed consent constitutes an integrating axis between bioethics, legal dentistry, and healthcare rights. Strengthening its integration into university education is key to developing ethical, responsible professionals committed to the dignity and autonomy of the patient.