The Evaluation of Reasons for Replacement of Amalgam and Composite

Amalgam and composite restorations take prime place in restorative dental practices. Over time, restorations are replaced for various reasons. This study aimed to evaluate the reasons for restoration replacement of patients presenting at Dicle University, Dental Faculty, Restorative Dentistry Clinic. The study comprised 705 patients (402 female, 303 male) who presented at the dental clinic for routine dental treatment. Without taking gender into consideration, patients aged 15-80 who were determined to have amalgam and composite filling problems were included in the study. The patients were allocated to 5 groups according to age: Group 1, 16-25 years, Group 2, 26-35 years, Group 3, 36-45 years, Group 4, 46-55 years, Group 5, 56 years and over. The failure of the fillings was diagnosed from clinical and radiological evaluation results. The age, gender and reason for the replacement of the restoration were recorded for all patients. The obtained data was evaluated with Student’s t test and a difference was determined between the age groups. Of 705 restorations, 378 (53.62%) were amalgam and 327 were composite (46.38%). When the reasons for replacement of restorations were examined the primary reason was secondary caries (30.78%), followed by fracture of the restoration (17.6%) and overflowing filling (15.46%). A significant difference was found between the age groups in terms of the parameter of reason for restoration replacement (p<0.05). To determine between which age groups this difference was more significant, the Tukey HSD test was applied as a multiple comparison test. The most significant reason for replacement of amalgams and composites was found to be secondary caries. The factor of gender had no effect on the reasons for replacement of the restoration. Failure of the restoration was seen to be greater in the 16-25 age group. Clinical article(J Int Dent Med Res 2013; 6: (1), pp. 15-19)