A female patient comes for a restoration, and at the NEXT appointment has bruises on her eye and lip. What should you do?

Correct answer: A. Ask the patient yourself what happened and document it in her record

• A. Correct. For an adult patient with suspicious injuries, the dentist should ASK THE PATIENT DIRECTLY what happened in a private, safe setting, and DOCUMENT the findings in the medical record (including the patient's explanation, the clinical observations, and any referrals made). This preserves a record and supports the patient without automatically overriding her autonomy.
• B. Incorrect. This APPEARS to be an adult patient (not a child) — mandatory reporting for adult domestic violence varies by state but is not always automatic. The immediate clinical step is to ask the patient directly and document.
• C. Incorrect. Doing nothing when signs of abuse are present is a failure of the ethical duty of beneficence and potentially a legal violation of mandatory reporting laws.
• D. Incorrect. Delegating the inquiry to the assistant is inappropriate — the dentist must take personal responsibility for documenting and acting on suspected abuse.