An audit of root canal treatment performed by undergraduate students

Aim The objective of this study was to audit the quality of root canal trea tment performed by undergraduate students on adult patients. Methodology All root canal treatment completed by first and second clinical year undergraduates over a 12-month period were included in the study, The availability and readability of pretreatment, diagnostic length, try-in po int and postoperative radiographs were noted for each case. All readable po stoperative radiographs of primary treatments were examined for quality of the root filling, categorized as complete, incomplete apical, incomplete ap ical and lateral or not assessable. The distance from the radiographic apex of the root to the apical extent of each root filling was measured to 0.1 mm. precision. Results Undergraduates performed primary treatment on 157 teeth. A postoper ative radiograph was available in 97% of cases. A try-in point radiograph w as unavailable in one-fifth of cases. Twenty-seven teeth (13%) were categor ized as satisfactory in terms of both radiographic quality and distance of the root filling from the radiographic apex, Conclusions Overall, the technical quality of root canal treatment complete d by undergraduate students was poor.