At the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry, the primary location for providing root canal therapy is the undergraduate endodontic clinic. Objective: The purpose of this study was to review data collected on endodontic patients of the most recent one thousand completed root canal cases, and to characterize the types of clinical experiences the students have. Methods: The following information was collected and summarized from 400 endodontic cases to date: 1) age of patient, 2) sex of patient, 3) tooth treated, 4) number canals in tooth treated, 5) history of pain, 6) pre-operative pulpal and periapical diagnoses. All data were analyzed using a statistical SPSS software package. Results: 1) the most frequent decade age group was 40-49 (27.7%), 2) 61.1% were females; 38.9% males, 3) the most frequently treated tooth was the mandibular first molar, 4) analysis of number of canals revealed: 9.5% of mandibular incisors with 2 canals; 59% of maxillary second premolars with 2 canals; 47.8% of maxillary first molars with 4 canals; 34% of mandibular first molars with 4 canals, 5) sixty-five percent of all patients reported incidence of pain from the tooth to be treated, 6) the most frequent preoperative pulpal diagnoses were irreversible pulpitis (37.2%) and non-vital pulp (36.7%). The most frequent preoperative periapical diagnoses were normal apex (41%) and chronic apical periodontitis (23%). Conclusion: Analysis of the results of this project give valuable information characterizing the scope of endodontics practiced in this undergraduate endodontic clinic. Trends in diagnostic, clinical, and patient data will be evaluated through continued analysis of cases.

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