Clinical decision making--an art or a science? Part II: Making sense of treatment decisions.

Clinical decisions made by dentists can vary considerably. Although there has been a tendency in the media to attribute these differences between practitioners to deliberate unethical practice, as Part I concluded, variations in decision making are a result of the complexity of assessing the risks of different treatment options and evaluating the outcomes of treatment. This article looks at why dentists can make different decisions when faced with identical cases (variation), why sometimes the 'correct' decision is not made (error), and also looks at what other issues affect treatment decision making once disease has been perceived.