A comparative assessment of conventional and rough-based multi-criteria methods for failure mode and effects analysis of root canal treatment

This paper presents failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) of a dentistry procedure i.e. root canal treatment (RCT) The aims of the present study are as follows: (i) to identify the potential failure modes (FMs) associated with RCT and (ii) to determine the ranks of the identified FMs to represent their degree of severity for the failure of the RCT procedure. Sixteen potential FMs of RCT are identified with the help of five members of the FMEA team. The FMs are evaluated with respect to three risk factors (RFs) i.e. severity (S), occurrence (O), and detection (D). Opinions regarding the importance of RFs on a scale of 1-9 and importance of each RF for each FM on a scale of 1-10 are gathered from FMEA team members. Subsequently, the obtained information is transformed into rough numbers in order to take care of the vagueness and inconsistency present in the human judgement. Further, weights of the RFs, in terms of rough numbers, are determined. Subsequently, four rough-based multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods i.e. rough weighted aggregated sum product assessment (R-WASPAS), rough additive ratio assessment (R-ARAS), rough TOPSIS (R-TOPSIS), and rough VIKOR (R-VIKOR) are used to rank the FMs. The final ranking of the FMs is derived using the grade average integrated ranking method. The results reveal that "Missed canal" and "Root canal under fillings" are the most and the least critical FMs, respectively. Further, the top 20%, the next 30%, and the last 50% FMs are categorized into highly, fairly, and the least critical groups. A few important suggestions are proposed to reduce the risks of the top 20% FMs. The results of the study may be useful for the professionals involved in the RCT and may help them in properly planning and successfully executing the RCT procedure.