Radiographic technical quality of root canal treatment performed by dental students at the Dental Teaching Center in Jordan.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to evaluate radiographically the technical standard of root canal treatment performed by undergraduate dental students at the Dental Teaching Center in Jordan.


METHODS
A random sample of 8500 records of dental patients was examined. A total of 542 endodontically treated teeth with 912 roots were evaluated. Periapical radiographs were used to assess the technical quality of the root canal filling. The length of each root canal filling was categorized as acceptable, short and overfilled based on their relationship with the radiographic apex. Density and taper of filling was evaluated based on the presence of voids and the uniform tapering of the filling, respectively. Chi-square analysis was used to determine statistically significant differences between adequacy of root canal filling in each group of teeth according to its location, position and curvature.


RESULTS
Sixty-one percent of roots had fillings of acceptable length, while 34.5% were short and 4.2% were overfilled. The root canal fillings of 47.4% were found to be adequate. Adequate fillings were found more in maxillary than mandibular teeth (P < 0.005), anterior compared to posterior teeth (P < 0.05) and in straight canals compared to curved canals (P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The technical quality of root canal treatment performed by undergraduate dental students using step-back preparation and lateral condensation was found to be less than 50%. Review of the endodontic curriculum requirements, specialized clinical supervision and increasing the time of training at the preclinical and clinical levels should improve this quality.
Barrieshi-Nusair
K M
KM
Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan.
Al-Omari
M A
MA
Al-Hiyasat
A S
AS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D003786:Dental Pulp Cavity / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004708:Endodontics / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D007597:Jordan; D008334:Mandible; D008437:Maxilla; D008875:Middle Aged; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials / Q000592:standards; D012389:Root Canal Obturation / Q000592:standards; D018915:Root Canal Preparation / Q000592:standards; D012390:Root Canal Therapy / Q000592:standards*; D013335:Students, Dental; D013499:Surface Properties; D019227:Tooth Apex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials