Thesis summary
Balanced experimental groups are one of the basic principles for the optimal design of scientific trials and thus an important prerequisite for endodontic comparisons using teeth for the evaluation of materials, techniques, instruments. Lack of anatomical / morphological matching of teeth used in previous studies has received criticism for having tested differences in anatomy rather than resulting in reliable ranking of materials, techniques and instruments used for root canal therapy.
In his doctoral work, Dr Gaute Floer Johnsen has scrutinised the degree of similarity between extracted contralateral premolars. He has used high-resolution three-dimensional X-ray (micro-CT) techniques to scan the teeth to compare several geometric and morphometric parameters in silico before and after root canal instrumentation.
There was no differences between the pairs pre- and post-instrumentation, and the studies validated contralateral premolars as samples for use in endodontic comparison studies. The study gave further validation for using contralateral premolar roots in endodontic comparative studies.
Evaluation committee
- Professor Gustavo de Deus, Federal Fluminense University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Associate Professor Hagay Shemesh, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Specialist Dentist Trude Handal, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Professor Håvard J Haugen
- Associate Professor Pia Titterud Sunde