EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF ENDODONTOLOGY Undergraduate Curriculum Guidelines for Endodontology.

Undergraduate education should accomplish graduates who are skilled to provide quality care for patients, who are aware of their scope of practice, competency level and limits and who are open to referring patients whose needs are beyond their own skills and experience. They should also become self-efficacious. Quality performance begins with good diagnosis and decision-making. Graduates should understand when to treat, why to treat, what to treat and how to treat. These guidelines include a list of capabilities that the graduating student will be expected to have achieved to provide a minimum level of competency in endodontics. Theoretical knowledge, practical skills, understanding and insight should be assessed, with both formative and summative assessment procedures, making use of reflection and feedback. Endodontic procedures should be undertaken within the context of comprehensive patient care and should be evidence based. Students should not perform treatments on patients until they have demonstrated in a pre-clinical setting that they possess the required skills. Only if it is not possible to simulate a specific procedure sufficiently in a pre-clinical setting should students learn this procedure by performing it clinically under close supervision. Clinical endodontics should ideally be supervised by endodontists or by staff with special knowledge, interest and self-efficacy in endodontics. It is advised to ensure that students apply their knowledge and practice their skills periodically throughout the continuum of endodontic education until graduation. A philosophy of lifelong learning and evidence-based practice should be instilled in all dental undergraduates.

Incidence of interappointment emergencies in multiple-visit root canal treatments performed with or without intracanal medicament by undergraduate students.

Objectives: This retrospective cohort study examined the incidence of interappointment emergencies during multiple-visit molar root canal treatments conducted by undergraduate students. Treatments performed without the use of intracanal medicament were compared to treatments that incorporated calcium hydroxide as an intracanal medicament. Materials and Methods: Interappointment emergencies, defined as instances of pain or swelling that required the patient to make an unscheduled follow-up visit, were recorded for up to 2 months after the intervention. To avoid the influence of obturation on the observed incidence of emergency visits, only unscheduled visits occurring between the start and end of the root canal treatment were included. Results: Of the 719 patients included in this study, 77 (10.7%) were recorded as experiencing interappointment emergencies. Of these emergencies, 62% occurred within 2 weeks following the most recent intervention. In the group of patients who did not receive intracanal medicament, the incidence of interappointment emergencies was 11.9% (46 of 385 patients). In comparison, this rate was 9.3% (31 of 334 patients) among those who received calcium hydroxide as an intracanal medicament (odds ratio, 1.33; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-2.15; p = 0.249). Conclusions: Interappointment emergencies may arise at any point during root canal treatment, but they most commonly occur within the first 2 weeks following intervention. The omission of intracanal medicament in multiple-visit molar root canal treatments, performed by undergraduate students, did not significantly increase the incidence of these emergencies.

The change in self-efficacy of novice dentists in Endodontics within the first year following graduation from Aarhus University or the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam.

AIM: To understand whether the self-efficacy of novice dentists in Endodontics changes within the first year following their graduation, and to reveal factors related to a possible change. METHODOLOGY: Data were obtained from dental graduates from Aarhus University, Denmark or from the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The 60 participants filled out the Endodontic General Self-Efficacy Scale questionnaire close to their graduation (baseline) and 1 year following their graduation (follow-up). Additionally, data on their experience in Endodontics within the first year following graduation were gathered, as well as data on their work environment, their referral behaviour and the postgraduation education they attended. For comparisons, chi-square tests, Fisher's exact tests, Mann-Whitney tests, and t-tests were used. Referral behaviour and the change in self-efficacy were studied by multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: Most participants showed an increase in self-efficacy after graduation. The increase in self-efficacy was higher for those whose baseline self-efficacy was lower, and lower for those whose baseline self-efficacy was higher. Self-efficacy increased with experience in performing root canal treatments within the first year following graduation. Participants with higher average self-efficacy (i.e. mean of baseline and follow-up self-efficacy) referred patients for endodontic surgery more often than participants with lower average self-efficacy did. CONCLUSIONS: The self-efficacy of novice dentists in Endodontics generally increased within the first year following their graduation. The increase in self-efficacy was greater for those who had low self-efficacy at graduation than for those who already had high self-efficacy. Performing root canal treatments was an important factor in increasing self-efficacy.

Influence of Method of Teaching Endodontics on the Self-Efficacy and Self-Perceived Competence of Undergraduate Dental Students.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed whether self-efficacy and the self-perceived competence of undergraduate dental students had been influenced by the method of teaching endodontics. METHODS: Certain modules of the undergraduate endodontic programme at the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA) including the tutorials, the clinical training and the assessment were revised. The self-efficacy and self-perceived competence close to graduation of an intermediate cohort of 24 students who attended all or some of the former modules or the revised modules were assessed. Additionally, the performance of students in performing root canal treatments was assessed according to predetermined criteria. Data were analysed using Cohen's Kappa, Cronbach's Alpha, Mann-Whitney and T-tests. RESULTS: Self-efficacy and the self-perceived competence of students who followed the former modules of clinical training and assessment were similar to those of students who followed the revised modules. The revised module with higher number of tutorials increased students' self-perceived competence, but did not influence their self-efficacy statistically significantly. Not the entire number, but the number of root canal treatments performed under supervision of endodontists was related with an increase in students' self-efficacy and self-perceived competence. The performance of students in performing root canal tretaments was not statistically significantly related to their self-efficacy and self-perceived competence. CONCLUSION: Among the modules and their components assessed in the present study, only the number of tutorials and the number of root canal treatments performed under supervision of endodontists influenced the self-efficacy and the self-perceived competence of students.