Introduction:

Ethical and legal aspects play a preponderant role in the dentistpatient relationship. It is necessary to review the theoretical bodies for the elaboration of the informed consent used by the dental professionals in theirdaily practice, to foresee that the relevant concepts are included.

Objective:

Analyze relevant criteria necessary for the informed consent in dentistry and to evaluate its inclusion in models that are currently being applied by professionals.

Methods:

Eighty-one theoretical documents and informed consent models from South America extracted from the Internet were analyzed, in a convenience sampling method. The theoretical data were contrasted with the models applied in the profesional practice. After the depuration of the 81 materials to eliminate similar documents, 17 theoretical documents and 12 models remained. Results: The 17 documents coincide in pointing to 10 criteria as the most relevant. On the contrary, none of the 12 models cover the 10 criteria. Seven of the informed consent models contained 6 or less criteria, while some only contemplated 4 criteria.

Conclusion:

There is a lack of agreement between the theoretical criteria accepted as important for informed consent in dentistry and the models in use by professionals.