Exploring Modern Virtue Ethics in the Context of Oral Healthcare

Abstract

Virtue ethics is established as one of the dominant ethical theories that has application for healthcare practice, including oral health. Attributed to the ancient Aristotelian concepts of living a deeply fulfilled life, virtue ethics draws attention first and foremost, to the significance of character traits, or virtues in the process of ethical decision-making. This focus on character, contrasts with duty-based ethical theories such as deontological ethics (with a primary concern on duties) the principles of biomedical ethics (with a central focus on the principles and the obligations derived from these) and consequentialist ethics (with a primary focus on the consequences of actions).1