'If it Ain't in the Notes . . .' Dental Record-Keeping in Adversity.

Abstract

There are some dento-legal mantras that have, by default, come to be understood as the truth, for example: "if it ain't in the notes, it didn't happen" and "Good records, good defence; poor records, poor defence; no records, no defence." the opposite view was offered by the trial judge in a dental clinical negligence case in recent years. the judge's view can be summed up as: "if you don't make a note of something that has happened, you leave yourself at risk of proceedings like these."