Diş Hekimlerinin Kök Kanal Tedavisi Uygulamalarında İrrigasyon Alışkanlıklarının Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

The aim of this study to assess irrigation practices and habits of dentists in Turkey through a survey study. A survey consists of a total of 25 questions including 7 questions related to survey participants’ age, gender, clinic experience, geographical region, professional title, specialization and frequency of endodontic treatment; and 18 questions related to irrigation protocols was prepared. The survey has been sent to registered members of the database of the Turkish Dental Association and Turkish Endodontics Association through e-mails, and to dentists on social media through hyperlinks. The analysis has been conducted based on the survey responses collected from 463 participants as, the remaining 57 participants indicated that they did not performe any root canal treatment. The data has been analyzed with IBM SPSS V23 (Chicago, IL, USA) software. The chi-square test has been used for analyzing categorical data while, chi-square test with Bonferroni correction has been used for comparing data between different groups. Data with a level of significance p ≤ 0.05 has been accepted as statistically significant. Participants’ geographical region that they work in, their specialization and frequancy of endodontic treatments have been found to be effective in their irrigation practices and habits. In the survey, it was observed that the sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) is the most used irrigant (98.3%) with the concentration of 2.5% (45.1%). It was also observed that endodontists use the 5.25% NaOCl solution more than all other specialists (p<0.05). The East/Southeast Anatolia Regions are the regions that use commercial form dental NaOCl solutions the most (88.5%). Participants from the Mediterranean/Aegean Regions prefer chlorhexidine (CHX) more than those in East/Southeast, Central Anatolia, and Marmara Regions (p<0.05). Endodontists prefer NaOCl and ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) in final irrigation more than any other group (p<0.05). 54.6% of participants remove smear layer and to this end, endodontists perform more additional irrigation than any other group (p<0.05). The most preferred agent is EDTA (98%) for the removal of the smear layer. Endodontists and participants who have more than 11-20 years of clinical experience prefer the sonic/ultrasonic activation more (p<0.05). The solution overflow to patient’s mouth is the most common complication (68.5%) encountered. 43.4% of participants need a standardized guideline on irrigation protocols. Pedodontists and those who rarely perform root canal treatments have an increased need for a standardized guideline than others (p<0.05). 64% of survey participants, especially a high number of endodontists and pedodontists (p<0.05), follow articles and scientific publications to obtain recent information about irrigation protocols. When compared to endodontists and pedodontists, general dentists indicated that they don’t follow publications on irrigation protocols (p<0.05). General dentists are identified as the group that follows the social media the most to be informed about irrigation practices. In conclusion participants’ geographical region that they work in, their specialization and frequancy of endodontic treatments have been found to be effective in their irrigation practices and habits. Irrigation practices and habits of endodontists are determined to be more up-to-date and in line with recent developments and publications in the field. Dentists performing root canal treatments should be encouraged about following scientific publications and congresses to improve their knowledge on recent irrigation protocols.