Ethical Aspects concerning Instrument Separation and Perforations during Endodontic Treatment: A Cross-Sectional Study

Raidan Ba-Hattab; Ishrat Rahman; Lubna K Elsayed; Wejdan F Alasmari; Randa Abidia; Somayah Abdelgaffar; Awsan Bahattab

doi:10.1155/2020/8849105

Ethical Aspects concerning Instrument Separation and Perforations during Endodontic Treatment: A Cross-Sectional Study

Int J Dent. 2020 Sep 15:2020:8849105. doi: 10.1155/2020/8849105. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Raidan Ba-Hattab¹, Ishrat Rahman², Lubna K Elsayed³, Wejdan F Alasmari⁴, Randa Abidia⁵, Somayah Abdelgaffar⁶, Awsan Bahattab⁷

Affiliations

¹ College of Dental Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
² Department of Basic Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Oral Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Suez Canal University, Ismaielia, Egypt.
⁴ Private Sector, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, Dar Al Uloom University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Private Sector, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ CRIMEDIM-Research Center in Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Università Del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy.

Abstract

Aim: During endodontic treatment, dentists may face various unwanted procedural accidents, at any stage of the treatment that might compromise endodontic treatment outcome and bring obstacles to dentists as well. This study aimed to address and analyze several ethical concerns relating to the behavioural conduct of dentists towards endodontic instrument separation as well as perforation of the crown and/or root during root canal treatment in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Method: Hundred and eleven questionnaires were distributed among dentists working in Riyadh in university clinics and government and private sectors. Data were collected, reviewed, and statistically analyzed by Fisher's exact and chi-square tests at a 5% significance level, using SPSS software.

Results: 54.5% of the respondents have encountered instrument separation. 53.2% stated that they would inform the patient about the instrument separation. 43.6% of the respondents had experienced perforation during root canal treatment, and 54.9% reported that they would inform the patient of the accident.

Conclusion: Within the limitation of this survey, we concluded that most of the dental professionals did not hesitate to adhere to the correct ethical conduct, and they would inform the patient if an incident occurred.