Table 3.
Survey Responses Overall and by Years Since First Dental Degree
| Overall US (N=830) | ≤ 5 (N=112) | 6 -15 (N=177) | >15 (N=541) | P-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caries Diagnosis and Treatment | ||||||
| 1. When you examine patients to determine if they have a primary occlusal caries lesion, on what percentage of these patients do you use a dental explorer to help diagnose the lesion? | N | 829 | 111 | 177 | 541 | 0.135 |
| Never | 4 (< 1%) | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 3 (1%) | ||
| < 50% | 75 (9%) | 15 (14%) | 22 (12%) | 38 (7%) | ||
| 50-99% | 270 (33%) | 36 (32%) | 59 (33%) | 175 (32%) | ||
| Every time | 480 (58%) | 59 (53%) | 96 (54%) | 325 (60%) | ||
| 2. When you examine patients to determine if they have a primary caries lesion, on what percent of these patients do you use air-drying to help diagnose the lesion? | N | 829 | 112 | 176 | 541 | 0.725 |
| Never | 14 (2%) | 1 (1%) | 2 (1%) | 11 (2%) | ||
| < 50% | 175 (21%) | 24 (21%) | 41 (23%) | 110 (20%) | ||
| 50-99% | 391 (47%) | 49 (44%) | 87 (49%) | 255 (47%) | ||
| Every time | 249 (30%) | 38 (34%) | 46 (26%) | 165 (30%) | ||
| a. If you air-dry at least some, approximately how long do you dry the tooth surface? | N | 812 | 111 | 174 | 527 | 0.039 |
| 1 to 2 seconds | 344 (42%) | 54 (49%) | 66 (38%) | 224 (43%) | ||
| 3 to 4 seconds | 365 (45%) | 52 (47%) | 79 (45%) | 234 (44%) | ||
| 5+ seconds | 103 (13%) | 5 (5%) | 29 (17%) | 69 (13%) | ||
| 3. Do you assess caries risk for individual patients in any way? | N | 791 | 103 | 170 | 518 | 0.069 |
| Yes | 661 (84%) | 88 (85%) | 151 (89%) | 422 (81%) | ||
| No | 130 (16%) | 15 (15%) | 19 (11%) | 96 (19%) | ||
| a. If YES: | N | 639 | 87 | 147 | 405 | 0.026 |
| Record the assessment on a special form that is kept in the patient chart | 159 (25%) | 29 (33%) | 43 (29%) | 87 (21%) | ||
| Do not use a special form to make the assessment | 480 (75%) | 58 (67%) | 104 (71%) | 318 (79%) | ||
| 12. Do you use any in-office tests to assess caries risk? | N | 814 | 109 | 175 | 530 | <.001 |
| Yes | 146 (18%) | 20 (18%) | 48 (27%) | 78 (15%) | ||
| No | 668 (82%) | 89 (82%) | 127 (73%) | 452 (85%) | ||
| 7. Upon opening the tooth and during excavation of the caries you realize that the lesion is deeper than anticipated and may invovle the mesial buccal pulp horn. You would usally | N | 812 | 111 | 176 | 525 | 0.039 |
| Continue and remove all the decay | 372 (46%) | 51 (46%) | 73 (41%) | 248 (47%) | ||
| Stop removing decay near the pulp horn and remove it elsewhere | 285 (35%) | 45 (41%) | 56 (32%) | 184 (35%) | ||
| Temporize and treat or refer the tooth for endodontics | 155 (19%) | 15 (14%) | 47 (27%) | 93 (18%) | ||
| Caries Treatment (see Figure 1 & 2) | ||||||
| 4. How would you treat the tooth shown above? | N | 830 | 112 | 177 | 541 | 0.291 |
| No Treatment or Further Diagnosis | 237 (29%) | 27 (24%) | 42 (24%) | 168 (31%) | ||
| Preventive only | 172 (21%) | 29 (26%) | 40 (23%) | 103 (19%) | ||
| Minimally invasive ± preventive | 293 (35%) | 40 (36%) | 68 (38%) | 185 (34%) | ||
| Restoration ± preventive | 118 (14%) | 13 (12%) | 26 (15%) | 79 (15%) | ||
| Other | 10 (1%) | 3 (3%) | 1 (1%) | 6 (1%) | ||
| 5. How would you treat the tooth shown above? | N | 830 | 112 | 177 | 541 | 0.259 |
| No Treatment or Further Diagnosis | 105 (13%) | 10 (9%) | 19 (11%) | 76 (14%) | ||
| Preventive only | 81 (10%) | 14 (3%) | 19 (11%) | 48 (9%) | ||
| Minimally invasive ± preventive | 321 (39%) | 54 (48%) | 66 (37%) | 201 (37%) | ||
| Restoration ± preventive | 315 (38%) | 33 (29%) | 72 (41%) | 210 (39%) | ||
| Other | 8 (1%) | 1 (1%) | 1 (1%) | 6 (1%) | ||
| Pulp Capping | ||||||
| 8. Which of the following pulp capping materials do you use most often in your practice (choose one)? | N | 810 | 108 | 172 | 530 | <.001 |
| Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA) | 34 (4%) | 7 (6%) | 7 (4%) | 20 (4%) | ||
| Calcium Hydroxide | 393 (49%) | 43 (40%) | 76 (44%) | 274 (52%) | ||
| Glass Ionomer | 274 (34%) | 50 (46%) | 73 (42%) | 151 (28%) | ||
| Dentine Bonding System | 71 (9%) | 3 (3%) | 11 (6%) | 57 (11%) | ||
| Other | 38 (5%) | 5 (5%) | 5 (3%) | 28 (5%) | ||
| Third Molars | ||||||
| 9. What percentage of your patients do you refer for third molar extraction by the age of 20? | N | 759 | 100 | 163 | 496 | 0.320 |
| < 20% | 96 (13%) | 11 (11%) | 13 (8%) | 72 (15%) | ||
| 20-40% | 113 (15%) | 12 (12%) | 26 (16%) | 75 (15%) | ||
| 40-60% | 171 (23%) | 21 (21%) | 45 (28%) | 105 (21%) | ||
| 60-80% | 195 (26%) | 32 (32%) | 40 (25%) | 123 (25%) | ||
| > 80% | 184 (24%) | 24 (24%) | 39 (24%) | 121 (24%) | ||
| 10. Which statement best describes your philosophy on third molar referrals? | N | 820 | 109 | 175 | 536 | 0.003 |
| Recommend removal of most third molars for preventive reasons | 120 (15%) | 27 (25%) | 32 (18%) | 61 (11%) | ||
| Recommend removal if they have poor eruption path or do not have sufficient space for eruption | 598 (73%) | 70 (64%) | 120 (69%) | 408 (76%) | ||
| Recommend removal if a patient presents with symptoms or pathology associated with 3rd molars | 102 (12%) | 12 (11%) | 23 (13%) | 67 (13%) | ||
| Dentin Hypersensitivity | ||||||
| 11. What type of dentin hypersensivity treatments do you rountinely use or recommend for your patients? (check all that you use) | ||||||
| a. Dentin bonding agents | 543 (65%) | 63 (56%) | 109 (62%) | 371 (69%) | 0.021 | |
| b. Oxalate or bioglass containing material | 132 (16%) | 8 (7%) | 21 (12%) | 103 (19%) | 0.002 | |
| c. Fluoride containing material | 711 (86%) | 94 (84%) | 156 (88%) | 461 (85%) | ||
| d. Chemical treatment (e.g. potassium nitrate) | 343 (41%) | 35 (31%) | 80 (45%) | 228 (42%) | ||
| e. Toothpaste or rinse | 663 (80%) | 78 (70%) | 143 (81%) | 442 (82%) | ||
| f. Other | 86 (10%) | 12 (11%) | 18 (10%) | 56 (10%) | ||
| Endodontic Treatment | ||||||
| 13. One of your regular patients presents with pain in tooth #13. Upon clinical inspection the lingual cusp has fractured to just below the gingival margin and there is extensive decay beneath the large MOD composite restoration. | ||||||
| You are able to diagnose a condition of irreversible pulpitis but there is no radiographic evidence of periapical pathosis. You would at this point recommend to your patient that you: | N | 812 | 110 | 175 | 527 | 0.943 |
| Initiate endodontic treatment leading to placement of a post and core followed by a full crown | 526 (65%) | 71 (65%) | 116 (66%) | 339 (64%) | ||
| Extirpate pulp, temporize, refer for endodontic treatment and place a post, core and full crown | 174 (21%) | 24 (22%) | 31 (18%) | 119 (23%) | ||
| Extract tooth and place an immediate implant fixture and later restore with a crown | 34 (4%) | 4 (4%) | 8 (5%) | 22 (4%) | ||
| Extirpate pulp, temporize, refer for extraction and placement of implant, and restore with crown | 38 (5%) | 6 (5%) | 9 (5%) | 23 (4%) | ||
| Extract tooth, refer patient for placement of an implant ficture, and restore with crown | 40 (5%) | 5 (5%) | 11 (6%) | 24 (5%) |
Note: 120 respondents did not provide information about number of years since first dental degree. Overall reflects all US respondents.