Technical quality of root canal therapies performed by novice dental students in preclinical practice

A Comparative Study of Two Martensitic Alloy Systems in Endodontic Files Carried out by Unskilled Hands

The aim of this study was to compare the behavior of two heat-treated file systems on resin blocks in unskilled hands. For this purpose, an in vitro, randomized, cross-sectional study was conducted to compare ProTaper Gold (PTG) with BlueShaper (BS) files. A total of 81 resin blocks were used and analyzed photographically to assess the amount of material removed during instrumentation. PTG removed more material on the outside of the curve in the coronal and apical third, while BS removed more material on the inner part of the curve in the middle third. The procedural errors observed in the total sample were apical transportation (33.8%), blockages (4.9%), ledges (3.7%), and canal perforation. PTG produced more apical transportation, and there were no statistically significant differences between the groups in the formation of ledges, canal perforations, or blockages. No file fractures were recorded during the study. Within the limitations of this study, we can affirm that neither file excessively deformed the artificial canals, and the PTG file produced more apical transportation.

An audit of root canal filling quality performed by undergraduate pre-clinical dental students, Yemen

BACKGROUND

Dental students are future dentists. Continuous assessment and improving of the educational curricula will ensure excellent academic performance of dental students and thus providing the community with the best treatment modalities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the root canal filling quality performed in extracted teeth by preclinical undergraduate Yemeni dental students.

METHODS

Root canal treatment was performed by undergraduate preclinical dental students on 331 extracted human teeth including 741 roots. The teeth were then collected and evaluated radiographically based on three criteria of quality (length, density, and taper). Cohen's Kappa test was used to assess the agreement between the examiners and Chi-squared test was used for the association between the study variables. The level of significant was set at α < 0.05.

RESULTS

The results of the study revealed that the overall quality of roots canals fillings was poor. However, more than half of the study sample (53.4%) had adequate length, 13.1% had adequate density, and 14.2% had adequate taper. Anterior as well as single-rooted teeth had significantly better quality than posterior and multi-rooted teeth, respectively. The root canal fillings quality mandibular teeth was better than of maxillary teeth with no significant difference (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The findings of the study emphasize the need of improving the endodontic course in the preclinical level and more advanced techniques and instruments should be incorporated.

Evaluation of complications of root canal treatment performed by undergraduate dental students

This study evaluated the technical quality of root canal treatment (RCT) and detected iatrogenic errors in an undergraduate dental clinic at the College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. Dental records of 280 patients who received RCT between 2013 and 2016 undertaken by dental students were investigated by retrospective chart review. Root canal obturation was evaluated on the basis of the length of obturation being ≤2 mm from the radiographic apex, with uniform radiodensity and good adaptation to root canal walls. Inadequate root canal obturation included cases containing procedural errors such as furcal perforation, ledge, canal transportation, strip perforation, root perforation, instrument separation, voids in the obturation, or underfilling or overfilling of the obturation. In 193 (68.9%) teeth, RCT was adequate and without procedural errors. However, in 87 (31.1%) teeth, RCT was inadequate and contained procedural errors. The frequency of procedural errors in the entire sample was 31.1% as follows: underfilling, 49.9%; overfilling, 24.1%; voids, 12.6%; broken instruments, 9.2%; apical perforation, 2.3%; and root canal transportation, 2.3%. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in the type or frequency of procedural errors between the fourth- and fifth-year students. Lower molars (43.1%) and upper incisors (19.2%) exhibited the highest and lowest frequencies of procedural errors, respectively. The technical quality of RCT performed by undergraduate dental students was classified as ‘adequate’ in 68.9% of the cases. There is a need for improvement in the training of students at the preclinical and clinical levels.

Endodontic Procedural Errors by Students in Two Saudi Dental Schools

Objective:

To explore endodontic procedural errors committed by undergraduate dental students in King Khalid University (KKU), Abha and AlFarabi dental college, Riyadh.

Methods:

In this cross sectional study, a questionnaire was distributed to 500 dental students from both schools and of both genders in the 5th and 6th levels in the academic year 2016–2017. Participants were asked to record their endodontic procedural error(s) that had occurred during training.

Results:

Returned and eligible questionnaires were 469 (93.8% response rate) and were almost equally distributed by university (KKU and Alfarabi). The participants’ age ranged from 22 to 24 years, and approximately 47% of them were female students and 65% were 6th level students. Almost 56% of the sample reported at least one endodontic procedural error during their training. Female students reported errors (65%) more frequently than the male students (49%; P=0.002). Up to 54% of these errors were in the posterior teeth and 65% were in teeth with curved roots. Most common error during access cavity preparation was gouging (68%) and due to instrumentation was ledge formation (47%), during obturation was voids (41%). There were no differences in the reported endodontic errors between the two universities.

Conclusion:

The frequency of reported endodontic procedural errors by senior dental students in both schools, more specifically those in the 6th year, is high. Ledge formation and voids in the root canal filling are the most frequently reported endodontic errors.

Radiographic Quality of Root Canal Obturation Performed By Fifth Year Students of Hamadan Dental School

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study was to assess the radiographic technical quality of root canal therapy performed by fifth year students of Dental School of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences from 2015 to 2016.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Four hundred and seventy records of root canal therapies were evaluated. Records with graphies taken as initial, master apical file (MAF), master apical cone (MAC) and final radiographs were included in the study and records of patient younger than 16 years and older than 68 years were excluded from further investigations. Lastly, 432 teeth were selected. Obturation length, canal tapering, quality and density of filling material were the variables investigated in the present study. Two independent investigators examined the radiographies using a magnifying lens (×2) and x-ray viewer. Data were analyzed using chi-square test.

RESULTS

The technical quality of root filling performed by undergraduate dental students was classified as acceptable in 10.4% of cases. Moreover, 70.8% of teeth had adequate filling, 17.1% were underfilled and 12% were overfilled. The three groups were significantly different in terms of working length and taper quality. One hundred ninety four (44.9%) records had adequate taper and 109 (25%) records had adequate density. There was a significant association between teeth location and the length of obturation so that the probability of a successful treatment was higher in maxillary teeth. Furthermore, the rate of a proper length of obturation was higher among incisors than that of premolars and molars.

CONCLUSION

The technical quality of root canal therapy performed by dental students in Hamadan University of medical sciences is not as acceptable as it should be. One of the most important factors in this regard is a high student/professor ratio.

Technical quality assessment of root canal treatment performed by preclinical dental students at Taibah University, KSA

Objectives

The aim of this study was to evaluate the technical quality of root canal treatment (RCT) performed by preclinical undergraduate dental students at the Dental College of Taibah University KSA.

Methods

In this study, 259 extracted teeth were treated endodontically by preclinical students of the College of Dentistry, Taibah University, KSA, from 2013 to 2015. The evaluation criteria were root canal obturation length, root canal obturation density (homogeneity), and root canal obturation taper. A specific score (0, 1, or 2) was assigned to each parameter.

Results

Of 259 endodontically extracted teeth, 138 (53.3%) had RCT of unacceptable technical quality, 42 (16.2%) had treatment of slightly acceptable technical quality, 50 (19.3%) had treatment of acceptable technical quality, and 29 (11.2%) teeth had RCT of perfectly acceptable technical quality. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in the technical quality of root canal obturation among types of teeth.

Conclusion

The results of this study showed that there were varied levels of technical quality of root canal treatment performed by preclinical undergraduate dental students, and the outcome varied between unacceptable, slightly acceptable, acceptable, and perfectly acceptable. The unacceptable cases were the most common, representing more than half of all cases, and the perfectly acceptable cases were the least common. There is an urgent need to improve the endodontics teaching programmes in the College of Dentistry of Taibah University. This research should be repeated in the future to evaluate improvement in the performance of RCT by undergraduate dental students in Taibah University.