A survey of patients’ perceptions about, and their experiences of, root canal treatment

Abstract

Root canal treatment (RCT) is widely perceived to be a painful procedure. There is a lack of data regarding patients' perceptions of RCT within the Australian population. The aims of this pilot study were to investigate the perception of adult Australian patients within the Perth Metropolitan area and to identify how this changes following treatment. Effects of demographic factors on anxiety and pain experience were also explored. Sixty-nine patients were surveyed, of which 28 (41%) completed both pre-and post-treatment surveys. Modified Visual Analogue scales and multiple choice questions identified patient concerns, nervousness and anticipated or experienced pain. Cost (55%) and pain (51%) were the greatest pre-treatment concerns. No expectation of pain was reported by 7% of patients, while 28% reported experiencing no pain during the course of treatment. Results suggest that anticipated pain is greater than pain experienced, and that after the treatment, anxiety for future RCT was significantly reduced.

Endodontic Management of Traumatised Permanent Anterior Teeth

“…Patients often associate “root canal treatment” with pain and failure. 11 It is often helpful to address these preconceptions at the outset and explain endodontic treatment in reference to managing a traumatised tooth.…”

Patients’ perceptions and experiences about the root canal treatment: An exploratory study among Saudi population

“…[2] However, it is one of the dental procedures that cause maximum patient anxiety and pain compared to the other dental procedures. [3] Dental pain is a great source of anxiety and a significant problem for dentists. [4] Therefore, managing pain and anxiety are a difficult in the clinical practice of endodontics and are the key factor on which the clinician's ability is also measured.…”

“…[6] Approximately 67-80% of Americans were rated extremely anxious about dental care and 5-14% of them were rated as severely anxious. [3,5] The prevalence of dental anxiety among Australians was recorded to be 14.9%, with 12.5%, and 12.6%, respectively, among young adults in Canada and teenagers in Russia. There is some sort of dental anxiety around 13.5% of the French population and 30% of the Chinese population.…”

Percepción sobre las dificultades en el tratamiento endodóntico entre los odontólogos generales y estudiantes de odontología

“…Asimismo, la dificultad durante el tratamiento endodóntico está relacionada a la percepción del dolor que presenta el paciente y a los antecedentes previos de una mala experiencia sobre dicho procedimiento (28) . De acuerdo a Kayaoglu y Segura, el dolor durante el tratamiento endodóntico puede ser causado por errores técnicos en la administración de anestésicos locales, variaciones anatómicas e inflamación de las fibras nerviosas resistentes a la anestesia, que puede influenciar también la percepción que tiene el operador al realizar este procedimiento (28,29,30,31) .…”

“…Asimismo, la dificultad durante el tratamiento endodóntico está relacionada a la percepción del dolor que presenta el paciente y a los antecedentes previos de una mala experiencia sobre dicho procedimiento (28) . De acuerdo a Kayaoglu y Segura, el dolor durante el tratamiento endodóntico puede ser causado por errores técnicos en la administración de anestésicos locales, variaciones anatómicas e inflamación de las fibras nerviosas resistentes a la anestesia, que puede influenciar también la percepción que tiene el operador al realizar este procedimiento (28,29,30,31) . Otros factores que intervienen son el uso de sistemas rotatorios, para lo cual algunos estudiantes aún requieren de capacitación para un correcto uso de éstos, y el estrés por parte de los alumnos, pues pueden presentar dificultades en el aprendizaje de los procedimientos clínicos, supervisión de los docentes y/o ausencia de ellos (32,33) Existen investigaciones que han evaluado la percepción de dificultades durante el tratamiento, como la de Tavares que fue dada a un grupo de estudiantes de pregrado mediante un cuestionario, el cual fue tomado de estudios previos de Salehetal y Murray (1,27) .…”