Development of a multi-criteria decision-making-based assessment model for dental material selection: Engine-driven nickel-titanium instruments case study.

Objectives: The aims of this study are (i) to propose specific selection criteria related to NiTi instruments for dental practitioners and (ii) to objectively assess the NiTi instruments.

Materials And Methods: The steps of the methodology are as follows: Step 1: "Delphi method" was employed to reach a consensus on criteria defined according to the literature review and a group of panelists. Step 2: "Smart pairwise comparisons" were employed to rank the proposed criteria. Step 3: "Borda voting" was employed to determine the weights of the proposed criteria. Step 4: To determine assessment scores, "Simple Additive Weighting" was employed. Step 5: Reliability and validity checks were made by "simulation."

Results: Specific criteria classified under dimensions were proposed and weighted for the NiTi instrument assessment. In this context, an assessment model was proposed and validated.

Conclusions: The proposed assessment model for NiTi instruments could aid to make the decision-making process as systematic, transparent, and reproducible as possible not only for dental practitioners but also for healthcare professionals. Also, this proposed model can represent a reference framework for further MCDM studies which can rank or classify materials in medical science.

Clinical Relevance: The model proposed in this study can be used to aid decision-making in clinical practice by means assessing the NiTi instrumentation system alternatives for practitioners.