Endodontic consultation and referral practices among Finnish general dental practitioners - a questionnaire-based...

To study the consultation and referral practices of Finnish dentists treating endodontic patients and to investigate the associations between dentists' backgrounds and their practices.

This cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted during endodontic training sessions held in seven cities in Finland. After the lecture, a structured Webropol questionnaire was used to collect the background information and endodontic consultation and referral practices of the attending dentists (n = 96). These practices included reasons for consultations and referrals, choice of consulted professional, and number of endodontic consultations and referrals. The associations of explanatory variables (gender, years of practice, participation in endodontic education, case difficulty, occurred complication) with the choice of consulted professional (endodontist/experienced colleague) and with the number of endodontic referrals done (0/1-5times/>5times) were analyzed with binary or ordinal logistic regression, respectively.

A total of 96 dentists responded to the questionnaire. Most respondents were female (74%), under 45 years of age (77%), general dental practitioners (93%), and were working in the public sector (94%) with less than 10 years of working experience (66%). The majority (73%) of the dentists worked in two out of seven counties. In the context of endodontic cases, 34% of the dentists had never referred a patient. An experienced colleague was consulted rather than an endodontist by 59% of the dentists. However, 55% of the respondents had consulted an endodontist at least once. In the logistic regression, years of practice more than 10 years [6.06 (1.83-20.06), p = 0.003] and participation in endodontic education [4.19 (1.29-13.59), p = 0.02] associated with the likelihood of consulting an endodontist instead of an experienced colleague. In the ordinal regression, years of practice more than 10 years [3.66 (1.32-10.18), p = 0.01] associated with the likelihood of numerous referrals.

There remains a continued need for consultations and referrals to endodontists among Finnish dentists. Our findings indicate that clinical experience and postgraduate education increase the likelihood of consulting or referring to an endodontist, rather than relying solely on advice from experienced colleague.