Page 26 - Demo

Chapter 224that closely mimic the actual situation with a patient is of added value; second, the observation that it becomes more and more difficult to obtain — for the students to practice their skills — sufficient numbers of patients needing root canal treatment; and final, most importantly, a need to minimise risks to patients. The revised method of teaching aimed at providing students equally competent as the former methods did in a shorter period of time and using more readily available resources. In this study, we hypothesised that the revised method of teaching endodontology prepares students in performing root canal treatment equally well as the former method did. The null hypotheses tested were as follows: that the quality of root fillings made by undergraduate students, and occurrence of procedural errors, had neither been influenced by the type of programme the student attended, nor by the type of supervision they received, whilst performing root canal treatment on a patient; and that the number of radiographs taken for those treatments had neither been influenced by the type of programme the student attended, nor by the type of supervision they received, whilst performing root canal treatment on a patient.Materials and methodsThe institutional research board approved the research protocol on 16 November 2012.Figure 1 presents the changes in the structure of the method of teaching endodontology in the undergraduate clinical endodontic programme.Students start with a pre-clinical training using extracted human teeth. This training focuses on the procedure as well as on the instruments and materials used for performing root canal treatment. This is basically on tooth level, and the actual situation with a patient is not strictly simulated yet.Formerly, in the here called “former programme,” after this pre-clinical training, students proceeded performing root canal treatment, in the main clinic being supervised by general dental practitioners, on their regular patients. To qualify for the summative assessment that would prove their competence, and thus allow them to graduate, they first had to perform several root canal treatments in patients. This assessment (former assessment) involved students performing root canal treatment in a premolar or a molar on a patient; their competency was proven when they demonstrated that they were able to perform good quality root canal treatment without assistance from a supervisor.Annemarie Baaij.indd 24 28-06-2023 12:26