Quality of root canal filling performed by undergraduate students in a Saudi Dental College

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of teaching endodontics to undergraduate students at Riyadh Colleges. This study was undertaken by assessing the technical quality of root canal obturation and the presence of procedural errors in root canal treatment cases performed by the final year dental students in clinics. All of the root canal treatment cases performed by the final year dental students in the 2nd semester of 2012 to 2013 were examined, with a total of 450 root canals from 241 teeth. The quality of root canal obturation was examined in relation to the length of the root filling based on the radiographic apex, the density of the obturation according to the presence of voids, and the taper of root canal fillings. The overall acceptable quality of the evaluated root canals was 36%. Of these canals, acceptable length, density, and taper were reported in 76.6, 46.4, and 73.8%, respectively. Overall, 9.3% of the treated root canals had procedural errors, and majority of these errors were found in canals of posterior mandibular teeth. Apical transportation was the most encountered error; it was found in 3.1% of the treated canals. The technical quality of the root canal treatments conducted by the students in this study was comparable to other studies. However, introducing new techniques and armamentaria might improve this quality.

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

“…These results are close to those reported by Er et al [8], AlRahabi et al [11], Elsayed et al [41], AbuMstafa et al [34], and Roman-Richon et al [14]. By tooth type, tapering problems were higher in molars teeth which similar to some previous studies [11, 18, 34]. By root canal location, mesiolingual, mesiobuccal, and distobuccal canals were the most subjected to shaping errors.…”

“…Although with no significant difference, the quality of length in the mandible was higher than that in the maxilla. This result is similar to that reported by Moradi & Gharechahi [28] while, it contradicts the results reported by Elsayed et al [41], AbuMostafa et al [34], and Elemam et al [18], who reported higher quality in the maxilla with significant difference. These variations might due to the difference in the evaluation criteria, teaching methods, and/or type of the study sample (clinical vs. preclinical).…”

“…The frequency of inadequate density of the treated teeth was much lower than adequate quality. This result is comparable to that reported by AbuMostafa et al [34] but, contradicts many of previous studies. However, when this result related to tooth type, Er et al [8], Saatchi et al [31], and AlRahabi et al [11] reported inadequate density of maxillary and mandibular molars higher than that of premolars and anterior teeth which is similar to our results with difference in proportions.…”

Quality of endodontic record-keeping and root canal obturation performed by final year undergraduate dental students: An audit during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Additionally, methodological flaws could have been introduced due to the inherent limits of radiographic evaluation and interpretation, as the radiographic appearance may be impacted by changes in beam and film angulation [ 5 ]. The overall quality of endodontic treatment could be influenced by the type of instrumentation and obturation technique as most undergraduate training employ conventional stainless-steel hand files with step-back and cold lateral condensation techniques [ 11 , 30 ]. Nevertheless, stringent documentation standards and continuing dental education are warranted to guarantee that dental students adhere to ethical conduct and are conversant with institutional documentation policies.…”

“…Several root canal filling audits have been conducted among dental students by examining radiographs taken during clinical practice and comparing them to pre-determined benchmarks [5,[8][9][10]. However, the available findings revealed mixed results on the acceptability of root canal obturation performed by dental students ranging from 36% to 80.2% [8][9][10][11]. Nonetheless, these studies were conducted before the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), known as COVID-19.…”