Survey on the teaching and use of mineral trioxide aggregate in UK dental schools.

The aim was to find out whether undergraduate students in UK dental schools were taught about and used clinically Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA). The census point was the end of October 2005 when a total of 220 papers were cited on PubMed. A questionnaire was sent to 13 schools, all of which responded. Three schools had dedicated units, or departments, of endodontology. The endodontic staff in every school used MTA in clinical practice. In all 13 schools undergraduate students were taught about the clinical use of MTA in endodontics, but in only nine schools were they taught about its use in paediatric dentistry. In none of the 13 schools did students have the opportunity to use MTA in preclinical exercises. The opportunity for some students to observe the use of MTA in specific procedures varied according to the procedure. Students in seven schools had the opportunity to observe pulp capping with MTA, as well as its use in immature roots, in nine schools to observe use of MTA in surgical endodontics, and in 12 schools to observe perforation repair. The opportunity for students to use MTA in specific procedures varied according to the procedure, and was less than that for observation. The material routinely used by students varied according to the procedure; in five schools the routine material for root-end surgery was MTA, otherwise students largely used traditional materials. Despite there being 220 papers on MTA over a 10-year period the introduction of its clinical use in the undergraduate curriculum was limited.