Assessment of the Technical Quality of Root Canal Treatment in Pre-clinical Endodontic Training Comparing Artificial Teeth to Extracted Natural Human Teeth

Abstract

Introduction: Extracted natural human teeth were used exclusively for preclinical endodontictraining. However, an alternative method involves the use of artificial teeth aiming to overcomethe limitations in natural teeth. This study aimed to radiographically evaluate the technical qualityof preclinical single root canal treatments performed by undergraduate dental students using twoalternative models; artificial teeth and extracted natural human teeth.Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study, 228 single rooted teeth in academic years2017- 2018 were obtained from the preclinical practice of undergraduate program in endodonticsat the school of dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Four observers wereasked to independently evaluate the radiographic quality of the root canal fillings according to threeparameters: Filling length, density (homogeneity), and taper of the filling in the root canals.Results: There were no significant correlation between the type of teeth and all three parameters;length, density, and taper of the root canals fillings. In addition, there was no statistically significantdifference between adequacy of the root canals fillings and the type of teeth (P. value: 0.455).Extracted natural human teeth showed overall 10% adequate filling, 77.7% moderately filling,and12% poorly filling. Meanwhile, artificial plastic teeth showed overall 13% adequate filling,81.6% moderately filling, and 5% poorly filling.Conclusion: Artificial teeth might be suitable for preclinical endodontic training but cannottotally substitute the requirement to learn with extracted natural human teeth as part of preclinicalendodontic training. They could be incorporated with natural teeth.