Root canal preparation using continuous rotation: The level of knowledge and the frequency of use in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Objective: Mechanization of canal preparation has made the operative procedures for root canal treatment (RCT) less tedious. The objective of the present study was to establish the level of knowledge of dentists in the city of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire regarding mechanized techniques and the frequency of use.
Methods: A survey was conducted among 145 practitioners over a period of 3 months. Data collected included the length of time in the profession, the type of practice, the frequency of RCT performed, and the mechanical systems used. A descriptive analysis was performed based on the calculation of numbers and percentages.
Results: The majority of dentists (66%) had been engaged in the profession for >10 years. More than half of the surveyed practitioners performed 5 RCTs/week on average. While 73% of the dentists were aware of the existence of mechanical preparation, only 22% used it. The HERO system (Micro-mega, Besancon, France) was the most commonly used (40%), followed by the ProTaper system (Dentsply-Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) (24%), and the Coronal Median Apical system (CFPM, Tremblay-en-France, France) (16%).
Conclusion: The present study revealed that practitioners trained in the past 10 years were more knowledgeable of mechanized canal preparation using continuous rotation, but very few of them used nickel-titanium files in practice.