Factors Influencing Dental Clinical Decisions: The Critical Role of Postgraduate Training and Perceived Importance of Specialty

Statement of problem:Dentists often struggle with whether to keep or extract questionable teeth, and must weigh all factors, not just the most obvious one, because these decisions critically impact patients' future oral health.For example, prematurely extracting baby teeth can cause long-term orthodontic problems, while a patient's refusal of basic care, such as scaling, can lead to serious gum disease.Purpose: To determine the factors that influence clinical decision-making among general dental practitioners in Khartoum State, Sudan, and to examine how these factors are associated with practitioners' characteristics.Materials and methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted among 103 general dental practitioners across three governmental dental hospitals in Khartoum State.Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire comprising four sections: Demographic characteristics, oral factors, dentist-related factors, and patient-related factors.Statistical analysis employed Chi-square tests and multivariate regression using SPSS version 28.0.Results: The sample comprised 66.0% females and 34.0%males, with 77.7% having postgraduate training.Clinical experience (88.3%), caries extent (86.4%), and patient cooperation (82.5%) were the most frequently cited influential factors.No statistically significant gender differences were observed across any decision-making domains (p > 0.05).Years of experience and teaching methods received showed no significant associations with decision-making factors.However, a statistically significant association was found between postgraduate training and the perceived importance of specialty training, with 75.0% of postgraduates valuing specialty training compared to 43.5% of non-postgraduates ( = 8.17, p = 0.004). Conclusion:Postgraduate training significantly influences how practitioners value specialized knowledge in clinical decision-making, while gender, experience, and teaching method do not demonstrate significant associations.These findings support continued investment in postgraduate educational opportunities.