Endodontic Treatment in Switzerland. A National Survey

The purpose of this study was to collect information about current treatment protocols of endodontic procedures among general practitioners (GP), endodontically interested practitioners (EI) and endodontic specialists (ES) in Switzerland and to compare them with available endodontic quality guidelines and former surveys. A questionnaire was distributed to 1,522 attendees of two national conferences (Swiss Dental Association, 2015; Swiss Society for Endodontology, 2016) addressing socio-demographic characteristics and specific questions about root canal treatments (RCT) including techniques and materials used. Five hundred and six surveys were collected comprising data of 81.8% GP, 14.4% EI and 3.8% ES (response rate: 33.2%). The majority of respondents was male (59.9%), 40­59 years old (55.9%) with >20 years of clinical experience (54.3%). 498 participants (98.4%) stated to perform RCT. Rubber dam was always used in 52.2% of GP, 69.9% of EI and 89.5% of ES, while never-user accounted for 14.1%. Overall, 63.9% used loupes and 13.7% microscopes (mostly by ES). Rotating instruments were selected in 43.2%, followed by conventional hand-instruments (37.8%) and reciprocating instruments (19%). GP rarely activated irrigants and applied NaOCl in lower concentrations (>0.5­1%) compared to ES. GP preferred lateral compaction (57%), ES performed vertical compaction in 89.5%. 92% completed RCT after two or more visits. The majority of dentists in Switzerland follow the available quality guidelines and the present findings are coherent with internationally published surveys. Nonetheless, discrepancies are still present between daily practice and endodontic quality guidelines, especially with the routine use of rubber dam and working length determination, predominantly within the endodontic non-specialists.

The response of Chenopodium album L. and Abutilon theophrasti Medik. to reduced doses of mesotrione.

The application of minimal doses of herbicides is very popular due to concerns about the negative impacts of herbicides on the environment and public health. Studies were conducted to estimate the possibility of using quick and non- destructive methods to investigate Chenopodium album L. and Abutilon theophrasti Medik. response to mesotrione. The studies were conducted in a controlled environment to determine the response of C. album and A. theophrasti to mesotrione using dose-response curves created based on plant dry weight, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and chlorophyll content. The obtained effective dose values showed that the studied weeds were susceptible to reduced doses of mesotrione. ED95 values estimated for both species for dry weight and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were lower than the recommended dose rate (120 g a.i. ha-1), with less than 85 g a.i. ha-1 needed to achieve a reduction of 95%, compared with untreated plants, while ED95 value (A. theophrasti: 182 g a.i. ha-1 and C. album: 180 g a.i. ha-1) for chlorophyll content for both species was above the recommended dose rates. Consequently, dry weight and the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters are suitable for estimating the plant response to mesotrione, while chlorophyll content is not.