The objective of the current survey was to assess the awareness of the dental professionals according to the principals described by the Turkish Dental Association (TDA). A questionnaire including the socio-demographic data, specialties/academic degree, institutions/affiliations, the knowledge about COVID-19, the number of patients examined and dental treatments performed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the knowledge of protection based on the guidelines described by TDA, contamination with COVID-19 and the psychological complaints has been used. A total of 947 (63.1%) dentists enrolled the study. The results showed satisfactory knowledge about the COVID-19 etiology, mode of transmission and the pre-procedural cautions as the majority of them had a fair level of knowledge with significantly higher knowledge among specialized respondents. The participants have also recorded a good judgment towards performing the emergency dental treatment during the current COVID-19 pandemic which corresponds with the guidelines determined by TDA. Considering the updates on the transmission of COVID-19 and protective strategies, there is an urgent need for improvement of dentists’ knowledge about risk assessment via training programs. The incidence of positive testing among dental professionals also necessitates immediately testing of asymptomatic Turkish dental professionals.

Objectives: The reliability and educational quality of videos on YouTube for patients seeking information regarding instrument separation in root canal treatment were evaluated. Materials and Methods: YouTube was searched for videos on instrument separation in root canal treatment. Video content was scored based on reliability in terms of 3 categories (etiology, procedure, and prognosis) and based on video flow, quality, and educational usefulness using the Global Quality Score (GQS). Descriptive statistics were obtained and the data were analyzed using analysis of variance and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The highest mean completeness scores were obtained for videos published by dentists or specialists (1.48 ± 1.06). There was no statistically significant difference among sources of upload in terms of content completeness. The highest mean GQS was found for videos published by dentists or specialists (1.82 ± 0.96), although there was no statistically significant correlation between GQS and the source of upload. Conclusions: Videos on YouTube have incomplete and low-quality content for patients who are concerned about instrument separation during endodontic treatment, or who experience this complication during endodontic treatment.

Background. This research aimed to investigate and compare the amount of apically extruded debris after root canal preparation using ProTaper Next, ProTaper Gold, and TruNatomy systems. Methods. Forty-five extracted mandibular premolar teeth with single canals with similar lengths were used. The root canals were prepared using ProTaper Next (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), ProTaper Gold (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), or TruNatomy (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) files. Apically extruded debris during preparation was gathered into preweighed Eppendorf tubes. Then the Eppendorf tubes were incubated at 70°C for five days. The Eppendorf tubes were weighed again to determine their final weight plus the extruded debris. Results. The TRN system resulted in significantly less debris extrusion than the PTN system (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the PTN and PTG groups and between the PTG and TRN groups (P>0.05). Conclusion. All the instrumentation systems caused apical extrusion of debris. However, the TRN system resulted in significantly less debris extrusion than the other systems.

Clinicians should be aware that all retreatment systems may cause microcracks.

Objective:The purpose of this study was to compare patient admissions, treatment needs, and treatments in our hospital before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods:The patients who presented to Karabük Oral Dental Health Training and Research Hospital between March 2019 and March 2021 were retrospectively evaluated. The data obtained were used to compare the 1-year process after the Covid-19 pandemic and the 1-year process before the Covid-19 pandemic. In this 2-year period, the number of hospital registrations, distribution of patients by gender, age data, type, and the number of procedures performed were obtained from the software system used in the hospital. Results:The average number of patients admitted to the hospital per month in 1 year before the pandemic is approximately 3.5 times in the next 1 year. When the number of patients applying was evaluated in terms of gender, it is seen that the number of male patients decreased more than women during the pandemic period. It has been observed that there is a dramatic decrease in the pandemic period in all treatments. Conclusion:With the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a serious decrease in the number of patients. However, with the ongoing treatment needs and normalization processes of the patients, necessary precautions were taken and the treatment of the patients continued.