Page 118 - Demo

Chapter 7116decision-making, vital pulp therapies, regenerative treatments, care following dental trauma, surgical endodontic treatments, nonsurgical root canal treatments including retreatments, and the scientific foundations of endodontic practice) the required level of competence would be specified, just as done in the ESE’s Undergraduate Curriculum Guidelines for Endodontology. The students at ACTA are trained to perform indirect pulp capping and root canal treatments of difficulty levels DETI A or DETI BI to the level of ‘being competent at’. The Guidelines for Endodontic Diagnostics and Treatment of the Dutch Society for Endodontology states that it would be good practice to use the Dutch Endodontic Treatment Index (DETI) and the Endodontic Treatment Classification (CEB) to assess the level of difficulty of a root canal treatment (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Endodontologie 2018). DETI A relates to uncomplicated cases and DETI BI relates to cases of average complexity that an experienced practitioner should be able to treat(Ree et al. 2003). Besides root canal treatments that are more difficult (i.e. DETI BII and BIII), also other types of endodontic treatments exist that are not fully covered in the undergraduate training, such as surgical treatments, vital pulp therapies and regenerative treatments. Hence, there is room for professional development in Endodontics following graduation. In the introduction, we reported that many students would like to take a course in Endodontology following graduation. In our work, it was confirmed that a considerable number of novice dentists did take additional education in Endodontology already in the first year after graduation (chapter 5). Novice dentists in Denmark have to take 10 hours of continuing education in dentistry each year. In the Netherlands, continuing education is not obligatory but strongly encouraged. Continuing education might be undertaken to acquire advanced skills, but is also necessary to remain up to date. For a novice dentist, the need for further education in Endodontology may depend on the level of competence they have acquired during their undergraduate training, their personal preferences, whether they feel prepared enough for their role as a dentist and the availability of referral possibilities for endodontic treatments that are beyond their skill set. Our data revealed that ACTA graduates feel a need for additional education in Endodontology since not only it appeals to their interest, but also, they think that they have acquired insufficient theoretical and practical skills and that additional education is necessary to maintain their skills (chapter 3). This is valuable information that may provide a basis for the improvement of the endodontic education at ACTA. Annemarie Baaij.indd 116 28-06-2023 12:26