Protaper® versus Stainless Steel Instruments- Pilot Study on Students' Perspective

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate novice dental students' treatment outcome satisfaction and confidence in using ProTaper FHU® (PT) and stainless-steel (SS) root canal instruments on extracted human molar teeth. Methods: Extracted human molar teeth standardized for number of roots, root curvature, canal size and patency were used. Male and female students without prior endodontic training were given standardized teaching for both systems. This included lectures by 2 calibrated endodontists, pre-recorded demonstrations and hands-on supervision by a team of 9 calibrated endodontists. Stratified randomisation by gender was carried out to assign students to treat one molar with each system, starting either with PT or SS. At the end of the 8-week training course, 37 consenting 2nd year dental students (84.1% of 44; 48.7% male 51.3% female) were surveyed on their satisfaction and confidence with the two systems. Data was input in SPSS v18. Chi-square Test, McNemar Test and logistic regression were used for statistical analysis (level of statistical significance at p<0.05). Results: 83.8% students were satisfied with their root-fillings using PT, compared to 56.8% when using SS (p=0.002). 62.2% felt confident about using PT on human patients compared to 40.5% with SS (p=0.039). An overwhelming 91.9% chose PT for their treatment on human patients and there was no association between gender and personal satisfaction or confidence in either system. Conclusions: Novice dental students were more satisfied and more confident using ProTaper FHU® instruments and it was their preferred system for molar endodontics.