An audit of root canal treatment performed by undergraduate students.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to audit the quality of root canal treatment performed by undergraduate students on adult patients.


METHODS
All root canal treatment completed by first and second clinical year undergraduates over a 12-month period were included in the study. The availability and readability of pretreatment, diagnostic length, try-in point and postoperative radiographs were noted for each case. All readable postoperative radiographs of primary treatments were examined for quality of the root filling, categorized as complete, incomplete apical, incomplete apical and lateral or not assessable. The distance from the radiographic apex of the root to the apical extent of each root filling was measured to 0.1 mm precision.


RESULTS
Undergraduates performed primary treatment on 157 teeth. A postoperative radiograph was available in 97% of cases. A try-in point radiograph was unavailable in one-fifth of cases. Twenty-seven teeth (13%) were categorized as satisfactory in terms of both radiographic quality and distance of the root filling from the radiographic apex.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, the technical quality of root canal treatment completed by undergraduate students was poor.
Hayes
S J
SJ
Department of Adult Dental Health, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK. hayessj@cardiff.ac.uk
Gibson
M
M
Hammond
M
M
Bryant
S T
ST
Dummer
P M
PM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019230:Dental Audit; D003786:Dental Pulp Cavity / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006171:Gutta-Percha / Q000592:standards / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement; D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials / Q000592:standards / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012389:Root Canal Obturation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D012390:Root Canal Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013335:Students, Dental; D019227:Tooth Apex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014092:Tooth Root / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials; D006171:Gutta-Percha