Journal of Oral Hygiene & Health
Open Access

Root canal therapy; Irrigate canals; Cold lateral condensation; Endodontic treatment

Introduction

In order to irrigate canals while receiving treatment, 55% of the respondents used saline. As a treatment in between sessions, 46% of doctors used form cresol. The majority of participants (91%) favoured the standardised and step-back preparation techniques [1]. The majority of dentists (97% of them) utilised stainless steel hand tools to prepare root canals, and 92% employed gutta-percha to seal them [2]. Cold lateral condensation was mentioned by 74% of responders. The normal root canal operation included the acquisition of four radiographs. A molar tooth’s root canal procedure, according to 93% of respondents, normally requires three or more visits. The permanent repair of the teeth should be put off for one or two weeks, according to 88% of the practitioners [3]. The results of this study provide credence to the idea that many general dentists do not follow appropriate endodontic treatment standards.

Endodontic therapy is a necessary component of comprehensive, high-quality dental care. A remarkable success rate of over 90% for root canal therapy has been shown by controlled trials. However, the majority of this study included data from endodontic specialists and university clinics [3, 4]. When used to estimate the approximate 65-75% success rate of endodontic therapy in general practise, these data could be deceptive. The differences in the technical quality of the endodontic treatment may be the cause of this discrepancy in success rate. However, there are surprisingly few data on how general dentists approach endodontic therapy [5]. The majority of general dentists, according to these studies, do not follow the established quality standards and academic standards of care set forth by the American Association of Endodontics or the European Society of Endodontology.

Although modern dentistry was first brought to Saudi Arabia some 50 years ago, major developments did not happen until 1975, the year the dental school in the nation’s capital city of Riyadh was founded [6]. The locations of highly specialised endodontic procedures are frequently the government health institutes and the dentistry schools that are affiliated with them [7]. Such government agencies often adopt and administer well-established endodontic training programmes, which are supervised by trained endodontists. The majority of endodontic therapy is carried out by general dentists in private dental offices in the Kingdom due to a lack of endodontists.

Case Studies

This study set out to determine how skilled general dentists working in private dental offices were at performing canine root canals [8]. A questionnaire about the availability of endodontic treatment in their practises was given to 400 general dentists working in private dental clinics in five distinct major cities and provinces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, namely Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, Tabouk, and Dammam, between May 12 and June 10, 2008 [9]. The form included a cover letter with explanations and 21 questions with multiple-choice answers. The questionnaire underwent a comprehensive piloting procedure before being made available in order to increase its scope and clarity.

The completed questions were gathered and analysed using straightforward summary statistics. When calculating frequencies and %ages, only one clear response was used; any blank or multiple responses were all labelled as missing values [10]. Sixty-two percent of the 250 general dentists who responded to the survey were generalists. The bulk of respondents (59%) were Syrians; the remaining respondents hailed from Egypt (32%), Saudi Arabia (3%) Saudis (2%) Sudan (2%) Filipinos (2%) and other countries (2%); 229 (91%) of them had had a root canal.

Conclusion

89% of dentists included permanent molar teeth in root canal operations, but only 6% of patients were referred. Lack of knowledge, materials, and tools required to do such treatment were the root of the problem. 5 percent of those surveyed chose extraction.

Acknowledgement

None

Conflict of Interest

None

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