Comparison of treatment choices among endodontists, postgraduate students, undergraduate students and general dentists for endodontically treated teeth

Objectives: To compare the decision-making choices among Turkish dentists with different educational backgrounds. Methods: Eighty endodontically treated teeth were selected from the authors' private archives and placed into four case groups of equal size: case-group 1, symptom/periapical lesion (n = 20); case-group 2, symptom/no periapical lesion (n = 20); case-group 3, no symptom/periapical lesion (n = 20); and case-group 4, no symptom/no periapical lesion (n = 20). The respective periapical radiograph of each tooth was scanned and, together with a leaflet containing relevant information, was distributed to the participants. Participants comprised undergraduate students (n = 20), general dentists (n = 20), endodontic postgraduate students (n = 20) and endodontists (n = 20). Each participant was requested to choose only one option, from five previously determined treatment alternatives, for each tooth: no treatment, wait and see; non-surgical root canal treatment; only apical surgery (apical resection and retrofilling or only apical curettage); retreatment and apical surgery; or extraction. The results were expressed as frequency and percentage. Kendall's W test was used to determine the differences among the participant groups. Results: There was a statistically significant difference among the practitioners in the preferred treatment options for different case-groups (P < 0.05). For case-groups 1, 2 and 3, the postgraduate students and endodontists preferred non-surgical retreatment more frequently than did the undergraduate students and general dentists. However, in case-group 4, all participants suggested the first treatment option, ‘no treatment, wait and see’ more frequently than the other treatment options. Conclusions: Within the limitations of this survey study it was concluded that endodontists and graduate programme students tend more towards conservative treatment (retreatment) compared with general dentists and undergraduate students. © 2016 FDI World Dental Federatio