Dentists' decisions regarding the need for cuspal coverage for endodontically treated and vital posterior teeth

Objectives Deciding when cuspal coverage is needed for posterior teeth is considered a challenge for dentists. The aims were to assess dentists' decision making regarding the need for cuspal coverage for vital teeth (VT) and endodontically treated teeth (ETT) with varying amounts of tooth structure loss and to identify clinical situations of dissimilarity and uncertainty in decision making. Materials and Methods A random sample of 182 dentists were invited to participate in the survey. The survey included photos of 13 posterior teeth: six VT and seven ETT. The clinical situations selected were based on a hypothetical scale of typodont teeth with ascending amounts of tooth structure loss. A brief description of each situation was provided. Each dentist was asked to decide whether cuspal coverage is needed, not needed, or unsure. Descriptive analyses using SPSS were conducted. Seventy‐five percent was chosen as a cutoff point for assessing similarity in decision making. The unsure answer reflected uncertainty. Associations were assessed using chi‐square test. Results One hundred twenty dentists participated (65.9% response rate, 70 females). Median for years of experience was 3.5 (interquartile range 1.1–10.8). Analyses revealed a similarity percentage of