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Chapter 114clinical experience and how important is clinical experience? Are the methods of teaching efficient and effective? Are students’ expectations of required skills correct, or do they overrate them? Is it just a matter of confidence, or a matter of self-perceived competence, or both? Why do they have this feeling especially with Endodontics and not so much in other fields of dentistry? To help students improve, I always attempt to unveil the composition of their performance and by doing so to discover the obstacles that prevent them from succeeding. Together with the student, I aim to find a way that fits the student best, usually by helping them to reflect on their performance in detail and by making use of questions like: “What do you see, or experience, and what does that mean?”, “Could you explain why you got this result?”, or “Can you explain or show in detail what you have done?”. While I emphasize in the feedback to the student the processes that go well, I also try to make them aware of the elements that are causing a problem. Then, I help them to consider alternative ways, or stimulate them to try and subsequently analyse those alternative ways, to get insight in what works in their hands. I thought that this method I use to get insight in the learning process of the students and to help them improve, could perhaps be used also to study, and possibly improve, the undergraduate education in Endodontology per se. Here we find the origin for this thesis: An educator’s approach to research. Endodontics is regarded difficult compared to other fields in dentistry (Dahlström et al. 2017). Root canal treatment differs from any other treatment in dentistry or medicine in that the area under treatment is not directly nor indirectly (i.e. through a scope) visible for the operator. The dental practitioner has to treat the inside of a tooth – the root canal system which has a very complex threedimensional anatomy – through a restricted access. The available two-dimensional radiographic image of the tooth is often distorted and superimposed on other anatomical structures, and the root canals are not always visible. To treat the root canal system well, one must rely on sound knowledge that has to be combined with the things one can see and the feedback one gets from appropriate tools to get insight into the complex anatomy along the way. It is important to treat all canals even though it is sometimes hard to find or penetrate them. Besides, the treatment needs to be performed with great precision; half a millimetre can determine the difference between success and failure. Reflection and insight are needed to be able to see and interpret the pieces of information that become available before or during the treatment; to subsequently convert that into action effectively, cognitive visualization capacity is needed in addition to dexterity. To Annemarie Baaij.indd 14 28-06-2023 12:26