Rubric system for the evaluation of root canal treatment of single canal tooth performed by preclinical dental students: a cross-sectional study.

Abstract

The current study aims to investigate the utilization of an analytic rubric system to assess the performance of preclinical dental students in executing root canal treatment for a single canal maxillary anterior tooth. An analytic rubric comprising three parameters was developed for the preparation of root canal treatment of single canal maxillary anterior tooth by 34 fourth-year dental students (17 males and 17 females) in a preclinical endodontic course. Three examiners independently assessed the students' performance on access cavities, cleaning and shaping, and obturation using a 5-point scale. The total scores were calculated out of 15 points. The reliability of the rubric was confirmed using the ICC (intraclass correlation coefficient). Pearson correlation analysis was employed to measure the association between grade point average (GPA) and gender with the outcome of single canal root canal treatment and overall rubric scores from different examiners. All the students received an excellent (4/5) rating on all parameters, with no significant differences in overall rubric grading between genders (p-value 0.797). The interexaminer reliability assessed using the Kappa test revealed good to high reliability for access cavity and obturation but low reliability for cleaning and shaping. Meanwhile, the intraexaminer reliability evaluated using ICC was excellent, with values of over 0.60 for all the measured parameters. A significant correlation was observed between the GPA and the overall rubric scores from two examiners. This study found no significant gender differences in performance for root canal treatment of a single canal tooth during the preclinical endodontic phase, with an excellent rating achieved for all the parameters.