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Radiographic evaluation of root canal fillings accomplished by undergraduate dental students
Hamidreza Yavari1, Mohammad Samiei1, Shahriar Shahi1
1Department of Endodontics, Dental and Periodontal Research Center, Dental School, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran;
Introduction:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the radiographic quality of root canal fillings by fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year undergraduate students at Tabriz Faculty of Dentistry between 2006 and 2012.
Methods And Materials:
A total of 1183 root canal fillings in 620 teeth were evaluated by two investigators (and in case of disagreement by a third investigator) regarding the presence or absence of under-fillings, over-fillings and perforations. For each tooth, preoperative, working and postoperative radiographs were checked. The Pearson's chi-square test was used for statistical evaluation of the data. Inter-examiner agreement was measured by Cohen's kappa (k) values. The level of significance was set at 0.05.
Results:
Total frequencies of over-filling, under-filling and perforation were 5.6%, 20.4% and 1.9%, respectively. There were significant differences between frequencies of over- and under-fillings (P<0.05). Unacceptable quality, under- and over-fillings were detected in 27.9% of 1183 evaluated canals.
Conclusion:
The technical quality of root canal therapies performed by undergraduate dental students using step-back preparation and lateral compaction techniques was unacceptable in almost one-fourth of the cases.
