Ethics & Dilemmas

Is it ethical to not tell a patient about a previous dentist's obvious mistake?

New patient came in. Previous dentist did a crown on #19, and it's... bad. Obvious open margin, poor fit, probably going to fail. Patient is happy with it, doesn't know there's a problem. Do I: 1. Tell them it needs to be redone (they'll be upset, might blame me) 2. Wait until it fails (feels wrong) 3. Just monitor it (but what if it causes bigger problems?) I don't want to badmouth another dentist, but I also don't want to let a problem go untreated.

Colleague's work is consistently bad but they're a partner

I work with another dentist who's a partner in the practice. Their work is... not good. I've seen multiple cases where I would have done things very differently, and some that I think are actually substandard. Patients complain to me about their work sometimes. But they're a partner, so I can't really say anything. Do I have an ethical obligation to report this? Or is it not my problem? I'm conflicted.

Patient wants me to lie to insurance. What do I even say?

Patient came in for a crown. Their insurance doesn't cover it because it's "cosmetic" (it's not, but that's what the insurance says). Patient asked me to "code it differently" so insurance will pay. I explained I can't do that, it's fraud. Now they're upset and threatening to go elsewhere. I know another practice in town that would probably do it. Am I being too rigid? Or is this just the cost of doing things right?

Owner is billing for procedures I didn't do

I've noticed the owner is billing insurance for procedures that either weren't done or were done differently than billed. Nothing major, but definitely not accurate. I'm an associate, not a partner. I don't want to be complicit in fraud, but I also don't want to lose my job or get blacklisted. What do I do? Do I confront him? Report it? Just keep my head down and look for another job?