Assessment of Dentists’ Referral Patterns to Endodontist in Turkey
Abstract
Objective: To determine the factors of endodontic referral from general dental practitioners in Turkey.
Methods: A questionnaire containing 39 questions was designed to determine the need for referral to endodontists and the factors that influenced the decision to refer a patient to the endodontist. The survey was sent by e-mail to be registered dentists in a database of the Turkish Dental Association, and only unequivocal responses were included in calculating the percentage data. The categorical data were analyzed with a chi-square test, and the results were presented as frequency and percentage. The significance threshold for all tests was set at p<0.05.
Results: The response rate was 5.5% (655). The majority (96.8%) of the respondents performed root canal treatment by themselves, and they refer the patient to an endodontist (92.3%) when they encounter a challenging case. Statistical analyses revealed that female general dentists referred more patients to endodontists than males (p<0.05). “Limitations in mouth opening” was the most common referral reason in the patient related factors. “Difficult diagnosis” was the most common referral reason in the teeth and diagnosis-related factors. A statistically negative correlation was found between the professional experience and patient referral (p<0.05).
Conclusion: We concluded that many patient- and tooth-related factors influence the endodontic referral of patients. For a successful treatment, a general dentist should make a proper diagnosis and refer to a specialist if necessary.
Keywords
References
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