Final-year dental students' self-perceived knowledge and self-reported clinical approaches to vital pulp therapy: a single-institution cross-sectional survey.

backgroundUndergraduate dental education should prepare students to understand and apply contemporary vital pulp therapy (VPT) procedures in permanent teeth. However, students' self-perceived knowledge, stated treatment preferences, and self-reported clinical approaches regarding VPT may vary according to their theoretical and clinical training. This study aimed to describe final-year dental students' self-perceived knowledge, recognition of VPT procedures, stated treatment preferences, and self-reported clinical approaches regarding VPT.

methodsThis single-institution cross-sectional survey was conducted among final-year dental students at a dental faculty in Türkiye in June 2025. Of 100 eligible students, 88 completed a 17-item questionnaire (response rate, 88.0%) addressing self-perceived knowledge, sources of information, treatment preferences, reported clinical approaches, rubber dam isolation, hemostatic agents, and material selection in VPT. Data were summarized descriptively using frequencies and percentages.

resultsMost students rated their self-perceived knowledge of VPT as moderate (60.2%), while theoretical courses (42.0%) and clinical practice (36.4%) were the main reported sources of VPT information. Direct pulp capping (94.3%), partial pulpotomy (Cvek; 89.8%), and indirect pulp capping (86.4%) were most frequently identified as vital pulp therapy procedures, whereas total pulpotomy was identified as a vital pulp therapy procedure by 53.4% of students. In mature teeth, direct pulp capping was reported more frequently than partial or total pulpotomy. Treatment preferences varied according to pulp exposure size, with a shift from direct pulp capping for 0-1 mm exposures to partial pulpotomy for 1-2 mm exposures and total pulpotomy or root canal treatment for exposures larger than 2 mm. Only 15.9% of students reported applying rubber dam isolation at the beginning of the treatment, and the combined response option "ferric sulfate or aluminum chloride" was selected most frequently for hemostasis (46.6%).

conclusionsFinal-year dental students reported moderate self-perceived knowledge of VPT and recognized several commonly used VPT procedures, but their self-reported approaches varied, particularly regarding pulpotomy procedures, rubber dam timing, hemostatic-agent selection, and simplified pulp-exposure scenarios. These findings should be interpreted as self-reported educational indicators rather than objective evidence of clinical competence or broad curricular inadequacy. Multicenter studies using case-based and performance-based assessments are needed to guide undergraduate VPT teaching.