Perception of dental surgeons on the ethical and legal aspects of exercising their profession as personal and corporate entities

evaluate the level of knowledge of dentists of the ethical and legal aspects of exercising their profession as individual and corporate entities; to observe the level of knowledge of professionals on the main taxes inherent to their existence as individual and corporate entities; and to highlight the positive and negative aspects of each entity. Methods: A questionnaire was prepared containing structured and open questions, which was sent to dentists working in the cities of Betim and Contagem (Belo Horizonte metropolitan area) in letters containing self-addressed stamped envelopes for return to the research team. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: 77.9% of professionals work as individual entities, 19.7% as individual and corporate entities, and only 2.5% act solely as corporate entities. Of the professionals who work as corporate entities, 88.8% reported that the reason that led them to act as individual and/or corporate entities was a requirement by health plans. With regard to taxes imposed on each type of entity, 67.4% of individual entity professionals declared not knowing the main taxes related to their profession. Conclusions: The level of knowledge of dentists regarding the ethical and legal implications of performing their profession as individual and corporate entities is insufficient; the interviewed professionals are not properly trained on the pertinent ethical and legal aspects of their profession, thus becoming vulnerable to litigation; and these professionals do not have knowledge on the main taxes related to each type of legal entity