A survey of practices of tunnel preparation among dentists who attended the 100th FDI Annual World Dental Congress

Abstract

AIM: To study the practice of tunnel restoration (TR) among dentists who attended the 100th World Dental Federation (FDI) Annual World Dental Congress (AWDC). METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire was administered to a sample of 150 dentists who attended the 100th FDI AWDC in 2012. The participants were asked about TR and their practice of TR. They were also asked to provide their years of dental practice and the countries in which they received their dental training. RESULTS: Fifteen respondents were not performing restoration, and they were excluded from analysis. Most respondents (123/135) practiced general dentistry. Their basic dental training was from 46 countries and regions. Most of them (n = 117, 87%) knew about TR, and 53% (n = 71) practiced it. There were 12 dentists (9%) who had performed more than 10 TRs in the previous 12 months. Practice of TR among dentists who graduated more than 10 years previously was more common (odds ratio 5.87-5.98) than those who graduated <3 years previously. CONCLUSIONS: The current study found that about half of the surveyed dentists practiced TR, although most of them knew about it. Tunnel restoration was performed more frequently among dentists who had more than 10 years of clinical experience.