Evaluation of Quality of Root Canal Fillings Performed by Undergraduate Students of a Brazilian University / Avaliação da qualidade da obturação do canal radicular realizada por estudantes de graduação de uma Universidade brasileira

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of root canal filling performed by undergraduate students at the Federal University of Espirito Santo (UFES). A total of 368 periapical radiographs of endodontic treatment performed by undergraduate students between 2012 and 2014 was assessment. The quality of root canal filling was based on two criteria: length of root canal filling and adequate density of the obturation. Root canal fillings were considered adequate if had no voids and were located at 0-2 mm below the radiographic apex. Statistical analysis was conducted using chi-square tests, with a 5% significance level. In 93.8% of the cases the root canal filling was considered adequate. The density of the obturation was considered inadequate in 3% of the cases. When the length of root canal filling was observed, 1.2% of cases were considered as over-filled and 2.2% were considered under-filled. Non-significant differences were observed among the tooth type (incisive, canines and pre-molars) and the quality of root canal filling. Most of root canal filling performed by undergraduate students at the UFES were considered adequate, regardless of tooth type.

Quality of Root Canal Fillings and Procedural Errors for In Vivo Studies Prepared in Different Clinical Settings and with Rotary Systems: A Systematic Review

“…A total of 114, 18, 8, and 53 published articles were excluded. Finally, 16 published papers were selected for full-text retrieval in the present systematic review study [9][10][11][12][13][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. These studies measured the quality of RCFs and the overall quality treatments made by different treatment practicing settings (private, academic, and hospital) for different teeth types (anterior, premolar, and molar).…”

“…Figure 2 and Table 1 present the characteristics of the 16 clinical studies included: 10 were conducted in 2023 [9][10][11]22,23] and 2021 [13,[26][27][28]30], 4 were published in 2022 [12,24,25,29], and a recent study was published in 2024 [32]. In relation to the study country, 8 studies were assessed in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries [6,10,11,22,23,31], followed by 3, 2, 2, and 1 study documented in Brazil, Türkiye, Europe, and South Africa, respectively [9,12,13,22,[27][28][29]. Most of the studies [10] were performed in academic settings [9][10][11][12][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] followed by 3 hospital-based studies [13,30,31].…”

“…In relation to the study country, 8 studies were assessed in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries [6,10,11,22,23,31], followed by 3, 2, 2, and 1 study documented in Brazil, Türkiye, Europe, and South Africa, respectively [9,12,13,22,[27][28][29]. Most of the studies [10] were performed in academic settings [9][10][11][12][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] followed by 3 hospital-based studies [13,30,31]. Nine studies counted all teeth (anterior, premolar, and molar) [9,11,12,24,25,27,[29][30][31], whereas 1 study examined anterior teeth [10], and 2 studies investigated the RCF quality in molars (14,31).…”

“…The introduction of rotary instruments in dentistry has brought about a considerable transformation in the field. These instruments are widely used in different dental practice, and their efficacy is supported by studies conducted in academic institutes in Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, and South Africa [9][10][11][12][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]; in academic and hospital institutes conducted by Pietrzycka et al in Poland [29]; in hospitals [13,30,31] in Türkiye, Finland, and Saudi Arabia; and in private dental practices in Saudi Arabia [32].…”

Assessment of the quality of root canal fillings performed on extracted teeth by undergraduate dental students in a sample from Saudi Arabia

“…Endodontic treatment is necessary for a sizable part of dental emergencies treated globally, and there is a growing demand to train and educate dental students in this skill so they would be more ready to carry out such treatment with satisfactory outcomes [ 1 , 2 ]. However, numerous investigations have shown that general dentists do not deliver endodontic care of a high standard [ 3 – 4 ].…”