Awareness of the causes and management of endodontic mishaps among dental students at King Saud University and Riyadh Al-Elm: A cross-sectional study

Background: Nonsurgical root canal treatment is an inseparable and essential element of thorough dental health care. Any errors that occur through any phase of endodontic treatment can affect the success of treatment. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate and assess dental Student's knowledge, awareness, and practice regarding the endodontic mishap. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, King Saud University, Dental hospital, and Riyadh Al-elm dental hospital. A well-structured questionnaire consisting of 24 questions were sent to 465 dental students from both colleges male and female from 3rd, 4th, and 5th academic year using Google form. Results: In general, 260 students (55.9%) reported at least one endodontic procedural error. Access cavity errors were reported by 158 students (34%). The total number of instrumentation errors was 243, which were performed by 187 students (40.2%). A total of 284 obturation errors were reported by 220 students (47.3%), and among the whole sample, the average knowledge of the student regarding endodontic mishaps was only 34%, which mean that 66% of the student does not know the causes and management of the endodontic procedural errors. Conclusion: As health-care providers, it is our responsibility to treat our patient with highest quality, and update our knowledge constantly, and according to our results, the average knowledge of the student regarding endodontic mishaps was only 34%, this shows that dental students have inferior knowledge about the causes and management of the endodontic errors, thus measures should be taken by the educational program and the student them self to improve their knowledge regarding endodontic mishaps.