Dental students’ perception of difficulties concerning root canal therapy: A survey study

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to analyze dental undergraduates’ perceptions about the difficulties they are facing while performing root canal therapy at a Turkish university, using a survey to identify students’ answers to difficulties and to make a dissertation by the educators about possible resolutions. Materials and Methods: One hundred and six undergraduates who had experienced endodontic theoretical and preclinical education before clinical procedures enlisted in endodontics at the College of Dentistry at Biruni University were involved in this survey in 2018. All of the undergraduates who had experienced the same clinical procedures answered the survey based on problems at particular stages of root canal therapy. A Chi-squared test was used to determine statistical significance between different parameters (P < 0.05). Results: For the first 13 parameters, students had the most difficulty in radiography (50.9%), root canal identification (67%), and obturation (54.7%) procedures. For these parameters, respondents mostly did not report any trouble; especially, in irrigation (87.7%) and intracanal medication (89.6%) procedures. Conclusion: Assessment of the major undergraduate difficulties during endodontic treatment may assist the development of teaching methods during preclinical and clinical teaching.