Evaluating endodontontic dental education by clinical errors (iatrogenic perforations) made by students in their last year of education

The aim of this study was to evaluate the technical procedural iatrogenic errors, especially to determine the frequency of dental perforation made by undergraduate students in Sofia, Faculty of Dentistry, Bulgaria, in the school years of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. The assessment was by examination of periapical radiographs of completed endodontically treated teeth, performed by last year dental students. A total of 748 teeth were evaluated and 30 perforations were found. From 285 treated in 2015, 10 perforations were found. From 493 teeth treated in 2016, 20 perforations were found. The overall frequency of perforations was 3.9% for 2015 and 4.1% for 2016. The frequency of perforations made by postgraduate Bulgarian students established by us is low and it is similar to that made by general practitioners and found by other Bulgarian researches. Perforation frequency found in this study is due to the large number of retreatments (36% of all cases) and the prevailing number of elderly patients with calcified canals that come to be treated in our facility. And yet it is not significantly different from other published data.   Key words: Dental education, iatrogenic perforations, quality of root canal treatment.