Correlation Between Dental Restoration Materials and Lesions with Secondary Caries

Objectives: In order to avoid caries, oral hygiene techniques, the careful placement of restorations and the choice of dental material are very important. In this study patients, who had received restoration with different dental materials underwent a dental examination. The aim of this study was to verify a possible relation between the frequency of secondary caries and the type of filling material.

Methods: A total of 500 patients (295 male, 205 female) treated in a dental hospital were recruited for this study. All patients received a clinical examination including x-rays. For this investigation a special focus was put on premolars and molars. The time of restoration placement and the used filling materials (including resin based materials, amalgams, gold restorations  (inlays /partial crowns/ crowns) were documented. The dental examination as well as the assessment of the x-rays were carried out by five calibrated dentists. For statistical  analysis, the t-test was used.  

Results: The 500 examined patients had a mean age of 39.4 (SD±14.5) years. At total of 372 patients showed primary caries lesion at 572 teeth and 459 teeth with secondary caries lesions.  In 250 patients more than 2 caries lesions were found. Restorations were found in 3121 teeth, among them 1271 resin based materials, 1174 amalgam fillings and 676 gold restorations (inlay and crowns). From the total of 1271 resin based materials secondary lesions could be found in 129 teeth; the 1174 amalgam fillings showed in 304 cases secondary lesion. The best results could be observed for gold restorations. Only 26 teeth of 676 restored teeth showed secondary caries lesions (p<0.05).  

Conclusions: The highly priced gold restorations showed significantly less secondary caries lesions. Multiple cofounders such as social factors, individual oral hygiene techniques and varying accuracy in restoration placement have to be considered.