Undergraduate endodontic teaching in the United Kingdom: an update

Anecdotal evidence and scientific surveys suggest that the quality of root canal treatment within the General Dental Services is often less than ideal. Six years ago, it was reported that endodontic teaching in the United Kingdom was given a low priority and that the time devoted to the laboratory practice of root canal treatment should be increased. In the following year, the European Endodontic Society (ESE) published guidelines for the teaching of Endodontology and made recommendations as to what should be included in the undergraduate curriculum. Shortly afterwards, the ESE published quality guidelines for endodontic treatment. The aim of this project was to determine the current pattern of undergraduate endodontic teaching within the dental schools of the UK. Data were gathered by questionnaire from all 14 undergraduate dental schools and supplemented with further detailed enquiries where necessary. The results were compared with that reported following an identical survey carried out previously. Although the ESE curriculum guidelines for endodontic teaching provide an overall framework for teaching, the results of this study confirmed that a number of topics were either not included or were covered only briefly. However, the average time devoted to the preclinical instruction of root canal treatment in the first clinical year had increased from 14 to 24 h, with additional time provided in subsequent years by the majority of schools. In most instances, staff teaching endodontology in the UK have no specialist training.