Abstract

Aim: To evaluate undergraduate dental students’ perceived adequacy of preclinical endodontic training and its association with their perceived competence to perform endodontic treatment according to clinical protocols.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study included 265 fourth- and fifth-year undergraduate dental students from dental schools in Ankara, Türkiye, who had completed their clinical endodontic training. The questionnaire comprised demographic items and questions with responses recorded on a 3-point Likert scale (1 = Disagree, 2 = Neutral, 3 = Agree) to assess clinical self-competence and the perceived adequacy of preclinical training. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Associations between students’ perceived clinical competence and the perceived adequacy of preclinical endodontic training were analysed using Pearson’s chi-square test, with effect sizes assessed by Cramér’s V. A linear-by-linear chi-square test was applied to evaluate ordinal trends. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: A total of 265 students participated in the study, comprising 188 (70.9%) females, 72 (27.2%) males, and 5 (1.9%) students who preferred not to disclose their gender. Among them, 115 (43.4%) were fourth-year and 150 (56.6%) were fifth-year students. Students’ self-reported clinical competence was significantly associated with the perceived adequacy of preclinical training across all assessed endodontic procedures (Pearson’s chi-square test, p < 0.05). Effect sizes were predominantly small to moderate. The linear-by-linear chi-square test showed a positive linear trend for most procedures, whereas no significant trend was observed for irrigation or the use of magnification.

Conclusion: Students generally consider their endodontic preclinical education and clinical competence to be adequate. The perceived adequacy of preclinical training was significantly associated with perceived clinical competence and demonstrated a consistent directional trend across the majority of the assessed endodontic procedures.

Keywords: clinical competence, endodontic education, preclinical training, self-efficacy

Copyright and license

Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open-access article published by Bolu İzzet Baysal Training and Research Hospital under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

1.
Odabaşı Tezer E, Yavuz C, Yaşar Ş, Çelik FN, Tavukçuoğlu Z, Udgu S. Perceived adequacy of preclinical endodontic training and self-reported clinical competence among undergraduate dental students. Northwestern Med J. 2026;6(2):156-6. https://doi.org/10.54307/2026.NWMJ.230

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