The extent of the responsibility to provide care which a dentist bears depends on whether a patient is registered with the dentist’s practice. A dentist has the freedom not to register a patient with his practice, provided he does not violate the anti-discrimination laws or a cooperative professional agreement which the dentist has signed. No conditions are applied if a patient wishes to withdraw his registration, or a registration is withdrawn by mutual agreement. If a dentist wishes to terminate the treatment agreement unilaterally, this can only be done if serious reasons for doing so can be identified. The reasons for termination which will be accepted by disciplinary boards as serious depend very much on the conditions of the specific case. In cases of the unilateral termination of a treatment agreement on the part of a dentist, given the serious reasons for doing so, it is usually necessary for a dentist to take into consideration various requirements for careful conduct.