Comparison Study of Diagnosis and Treatment Planning for Dental Infections between Dental Students and Practitioners

Abstract

This study aimed to access the knowledge in diagnosing dental infections and the practice in treatment planning for the affected teeth among dental practitioners (DPs) and senior (final-year) students. A survey questionnaire containing two cases (Case A; periodontal abscess and Case B; periapical abscess) with four questions per case was delivered to potential participants. Fifty-nine DPs voluntarily participated in the survey. For senior students, the case study was a part of their course requirements; one of the two cases (either Case A or B) was randomly assigned to the 126 seniors. The distribution of responses was significantly different between the DP and senior groups except for the diagnosis of Case B (Fisher's exact test; p = 0.05). Only 31% of the participants diagnosed Case A as periodontal abscess; most of them selected periodontal surgery as the first treatment option. Despite a high agreement in diagnosing Case B, the choice of treatment was significantly different; the most frequent treatment option was extraction (51%) from the DP group and root canal retreatment (57%) from the senior group. The study revealed that the diagnosis of periodontal abscess was more challenging than that of periapical abscess among dental professionals.

Keywords: differential diagnosis; education; periapical abscess; periodontal abscess.

Figure 1

Distribution and correspondence of the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment choice for Case A between the Senior 1 (n = 59) and Dental practitioner (n = 50) groups. Perio = periodontal, Ext = extraction, RCT = root canal therapy, Sx = surgery.

Figure 2

Distribution and correspondence of the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment choice for Case B between the Senior 2 (n = 63) and Dental practitioner (n = 59) groups. Endo-perio = endodontic periodontal combined lesion, Ext = extraction, Sx = surgery, RCT = root canal therapy, CBCT = cone-beam computed tomography.