Cross-Sectional Survey to Assess Dental Students' Perception of the Utilization of a Case Difficulty Assessment Form during Various Stages of Root Canal Therapy.

Background: Several endodontic difficulty assessment forms are available to help dental students and general dentists estimate the difficulty of the case before initiating the endodontic treatment.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess if the American Association of Endodontics (AAE) case difficulty assessment form affects the dental student's perception of the difficulty encountered while performing root canal treatment (RCT).

Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional online survey. After obtaining IRB approval, an electronic questionnaire was sent to dental students enrolled in the 4th and 5th years at King Saud University (KSU) and King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was divided into informed consent, demographic data, the use of the AAE case assessment form, RCT steps, diagnosis, local anesthesia administration, tooth isolation, and endodontic procedure.

Results: A total of 195 dental students participated in the study. There were 101 (52%) females, and 139 (71%) were from KSAU-HS. A positive association was found between students who used the AAE assessment form and who did not with their ability to reach the correct diagnosis (p=0.005), tooth isolation (p=0.03), and endodontic procedure difficulty score (p=0.018).

Conclusion: The use of the AAE form by dental students enabled them to differentiate between complicated and uncomplicated cases, thus lowering the difficulty encountered during RCT.