DENTAL PATIENT-REPORTED OUTCOMES IN ENDODONTICS- A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Recently in oral health care settings, the focus of assessing treatment outcomes has shifted from the perspective of the clinician towards that of the patient. En-dodontology is a specialty of dentistry concerned with the prevention and treat-ment of pulp and periapical diseases. Research in endodontology and its asso-ciated treatment outcomes have focused mainly on clinician-reported outcomes (CROs) and not dental patient-reported outcomes (dPROs). As a result, there is a need to emphasize the importance and relevance of dPROs to researchers and clinicians. The aim of this review is to present an overview of dPROs and dPROMs within endodontics in an attempt to create a better understanding of the patient experience, highlight the need to place the patient at the center of treatment, enhance patient care and encourage more research into dPROs. The key dPROs following endodontic treatment include pain, tenderness, tooth function, need for further intervention, adverse effects (exacerbation of symptoms, tooth discol-oration) and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life. dPROs are important following endodontic treatment because they assist clinicians and patients when they dis-cuss and select the most appropriate management options, help clinicians make decisions on pre-operative assessment, prevention and treatment, and improve the methodology and design of future clinical studies. Clinicians and researchers in endodontology should prioritize patient welfare and undertake routine analy-ses of dPROs using appropriate and robust measures. Due to the lack of agree-ment over the reporting and definition of endodontic treatment outcomes, a comprehensive project to define a "Core Outcome Set for Endodontic Treat-ment Methods (COSET)" is currently ongoing. In the future, a new and exclusive assessment tool should be developed to reflect the viewpoints of patients re-ceiving endodontic treatment more accurately.