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Summary143The research that forms the core of this thesis looked at how well root canal treatments on patients were performed following clinical training versus simulated clinical training (chapter 2), at aspects of undergraduate education in Endodontology that could influence the building of self-efficacy (chapters 3 and 4) and at how selfefficacy changes following graduation (chapter 5). In addition to that, interappointment emergencies, which are inconvenient, were studied (chapter 6). Our work shows that for building up self-efficacy in Endodontics, clinical experience in performing root canal treatment is vital. Students benefit most from gradual exposure and from supervision by endodontists during their undergraduate training. However, skill training up to the level of being competent should be done in simulation.Chapter 2: Students who trained their skills in simulation performed root canal treatments on patients at least as well as those who trained their skills by performing root canal treatments on patients. Higher quality root canal treatments were obtained under supervision of endodontists than under supervision of general dental practitioners.Chapter 3: Not the methods of clinical training and assessment, but the number of tutorials and the number of root canal treatments performed under supervision of endodontists influenced the self-perceived competence and the self-efficacy of students.Chapter 4: The self-efficacy of students from Aarhus University and from the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam was comparable. Students’ self-efficacy was influenced mostly by their clinical experience when performing root canal treatment. Students’ self-efficacy increased with the number of treated root canals in patients; however, retreatments and root canal treatments in molars were negatively associated with self-efficacy.Chapter 5: The self-efficacy of novice dentists generally increased within the first year following their graduation from Aarhus University or the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam. The increase in self-efficacy was greater for those who had low self-efficacy at graduation as compared to those who graduated with a high level of self-efficacy. Performing root canal treatments was an important factor in increasing self-efficacy.Chapter 6: The incidence of interappointment emergencies in molar root canal treatments performed in multiple visits by undergraduate students was 10.7%. Sixty-two percent of the interappointment emergencies occurred within two weeks following the latest intervention. The incidence of interappointment emergencies was not significantly increased by omitting the use of calcium hydroxide intracanal medicament.Annemarie Baaij.indd 143 28-06-2023 12:26