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Gavahi Kashani, Sadaf

University of British Columbia

Objectives: Dental practitioners commonly use digital radiography to identify various oral conditions. These conditions may be unexpectedly discovered in an otherwise asymptomatic patient, termed incidental findings (IFs). Digital panoramic radiography (DPR) gives the best overview of the jaw. Furthermore, COVID-19 may have influenced the exposure of dental students to clinical education. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of IFs on dental radiographs and compare the performance of pre-doctoral dental students in different cohorts (prior to, during, and post-COVID-19) in identifying them. Methods: A total of 1598 consecutive radiographs and charts of patients in UBC’s dental clinics were reviewed retrospectively. After the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 600 cases remained in the study. Radiographs and patients’ charts were reviewed and assessed for IFs. Chi-square tests were utilized to assess the performance of the students. To validate the precision of the testing method, Positive Predictive Values (PPVs), ‘Specificity’, ‘Sensitivity’, and Negative Predictive Values (NPVs) were utilized. Results: A notable prevalence of IFs was observed in the 600 cases that were reviewed. Dilacerated teeth exhibited the highest prevalence in this study, accounting for 50.3% of the IFs. The PPVs for all groups combined for DPR images exceeded 90% for the majority of the conditions. In contrast, the NPVs for all groups combined for DPR images were below 80% for various conditions, including dilacerated teeth, sclerosing osteitis, exostosis of a mandibular angle, tonsilloliths, styloid complex calcification, triticeous cartilage calcification, maxillary sinus pathology, condylar anomalies, PRIO, caries, and periodontal disorders. The results of this study demonstrated that dental students exhibited an improved ability to diagnose caries and periodontal conditions, although performance varied among cohorts. Notably, the identification of other conditions like impacted and dilacerated teeth saw poorer performance in the cohorts during and post-COVID-19. Conclusion: A thorough examination of these radiographs is highly advisable. Conditions that require more experience for accurate diagnosis are less frequently identified. The ability of pre-doctoral dental students to assess radiographs has been impacted by the constraints imposed by COVID-19, possibly due to online education and reduced clinical training time.

Text

2024-01-12

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87234

Craniofacial Science

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/