Understanding informed consent and its relationship to the incidence of adverse treatment events in conventional endodontic therapy.

Forty-three endodontic specialists recorded the occurrence of all adverse treatment events in 3308 consecutive conventional endodontic cases. Statistical analysis confirmed that retreatment cases and mid-treatment referral cases have a greater incidence of adverse treatment events. Since the doctrine of informed consent requires that the doctor inform the patient of reasonably foreseeable consequences of treatment, it is therefore important that the endodontist be cognizant of such events and decide what information is appropriate for disclosure. Since jurisdictional differences exist in the interpretation of what constitutes sufficient informed consent, it is important that local groups investigate the statutes in their state and construct reasonable informed consent documents.