A new type of relationship that has developed between science, technology, and industry in modern life encourages a strong expansion in the consumption of specialized goods and services, building diverse ethical issues in this process. This article aims to analyze the relationship between ethics, specialization, and the labor market in the productive post-restructuring of dentistry. It is an exploratory-descriptive qualitative study involving the application of a questionnaire among thirty students of a specialization course in southern Brazil. The categories were constructed through the ethical issues highlighted in the discourse ofprofessionals and analyzed using the discursive textual method. The categories studied were the pursuit of specialization as an imperative to stand out on the market and ethical issues in the construction of new needs for aesthetic and specialized consumption based on singular patient-patient convincing schemes. A picture of a paradigmatic crisis in the dental profession encourages the expansion of specialties guided by aesthetic consumption, which, in turn, amplifies the importance of the ethical debate in the lato sensu training and, also, in continuing education in work in oral health. There is a need for a proactive participation of professional councils, professional associations, and government institutions related to oral health in the construction of the ethical and bioethical debate focused on professional work and training.
ethics; labor market; specialization; oral health