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Radiographic technical quality of root canal fillings performed by dental students in Palestine

Objectives: The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the radiographic technical quality of root canal fillings and the incidence of iatrogenic errors in treatments performed by undergraduate students. Materials and Methods: A total of 612 periapical radiographs were used to assess the radiographic technical quality of 1013 root canals performed by the 4 th and 5 th undergraduate students between the years 2009 and 2012. Two variables were examined: The length and the density of the fillings, categorized as acceptable and unacceptable. The presence of ledges, root perforation and fractured instruments were also investigated. Chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis of the results. A P Results: Nearly, 65% and 76.4% of the root canal fillings had adequate length and density respectively; with 58% of root canals fulfilled these two criteria at the same time. There was no significant difference between the maxillary and mandibular teeth according to the adequacy of the root fillings. The highest percentage of adequate root fillings was found in mandibular anteriors (68.8%) while maxillary molars were associated with the lowest level of acceptability (35.5%). Ledges were detected in 11.7% of root canals. Conclusion: The quality of root canal fillings performed by undergraduate dental students at the Arab American University Dental School, Palestine was satisfactory. Changes in teaching curriculum and introduction of new treatment techniques may be required to improve the technical quality of root canal treatment done by dental students.