{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T11:14:50Z","timestamp":1788952490619,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788912000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Romania"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/031d5vw30","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Dent. J.","Dentistry Journal"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Medico-legal preparedness is relevant throughout dental education because awareness develops before independent clinical responsibility is assumed. This study examined malpractice awareness, self-perceived preparedness, legal awareness and defensive-practice tendencies among Romanian dental students, residents and dentists. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between May and June 2026 among 176 participants from the Faculty of Dentistry and its associated professional community in Craiova, Romania. The author-developed questionnaire was completed online (n = 134) or on paper at a professional conference (n = 42). Associations were assessed using non-parametric tests, ordinal logistic regression and robust linear regression. A sensitivity analysis excluded early-year students. Results: Respondents demonstrated moderate legal awareness (mean 3.29 of 5), whilst only 8.0% felt well or very well prepared to manage a malpractice-related situation. In the main model, previous legal training was associated with greater preparedness (adjusted odds ratio 2.52, 95% CI 1.03\u20136.15), as were resident status and professional clinical experience. In the clinically exposed subgroup (n = 68), practising dentists reported greater preparedness than clinical-year students, whereas familiarity with malpractice and paper-based participation were associated with stronger defensive-practice tendencies. Conclusions: Awareness of medico-legal issues is present across dental education, but perceived preparedness remains limited. The findings support longitudinal, applied medico-legal education and require cautious interpretation because early-year and clinically experienced respondents evaluated partly different aspects of the same phenomenon.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/dj14090579","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T10:19:16Z","timestamp":1788949156000},"page":"579","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Title Medico-Legal Preparedness in Dental Education: Training Gaps, Defensive Practice and Curriculum Implications Among Romanian Dental Students and Dentists"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Larisa","family":"P\u0103tru","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department 9, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ciprian Lauren\u021biu","family":"P\u0103tru","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department 8 Mother and Child, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-1581-8928","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena Cristina","family":"Andrei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Histology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-1547-2864","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oana Andreea","family":"Diaconu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Maria Cristina","family":"Com\u0103nescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniela-Maria","family":"Micu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Foreign Languages, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9028-7583","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Virginia Maria","family":"R\u0103dulescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2021). 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