IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i23p12585-d690897.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Overtreatment in Restorative Dentistry: Decision Making by Last-Year Dental Students

Author

Listed:
  • Triana Moreno

    (Departament of Stomatology, Universitat de València, 46010 València, Spain)

  • José Luis Sanz

    (Departament of Stomatology, Universitat de València, 46010 València, Spain)

  • María Melo

    (Departament of Stomatology, Universitat de València, 46010 València, Spain)

  • Carmen Llena

    (Departament of Stomatology, Universitat de València, 46010 València, Spain)

Abstract

To evaluate the tendency for overdiagnosis and overtreatment upon different clinical situations among last-year students from the degree in dentistry from Valencia University (Spain) during the 2018–2019 course. A questionnaire consisting of 10 case exemplifications examining the diagnosis, treatment, and clinician’s attitude towards different common clinical situations regarding restorative dentistry was designed. Fifty-two students were surveyed, from whom 42 completed the questionnaire (80.77%). Data were analyzed descriptively. A total of 58.8% of the students correctly identified an early carious lesion in the occlusal surface of a molar, while 63.2% would perform unnecessary complementary tests for its diagnosis. The treatment for carious lesions in different evolutive phases with a vital pulp was correct between 51.2 and 92.7% of the cases. The treatment for irreversible pulp pathology and the restoration of the tooth with root canal treatment were adequately selected in 56.1% and 78.3% of the cases, respectively. For the repair of a faulty restoration, an overtreatment was proposed by 87.8% of the students. A tendency to perform unnecessary complementary tests for caries diagnosis was observed. Treatment caries proposals were in accordance with available evidence in the majority of the cases. Students tended to overtreat defective restorations and would perform unnecessary treatments in medically compromised patients.

Suggested Citation

  • Triana Moreno & José Luis Sanz & María Melo & Carmen Llena, 2021. "Overtreatment in Restorative Dentistry: Decision Making by Last-Year Dental Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-16, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12585-:d:690897
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12585/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12585/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12585-:d:690897. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.