US Dentists’ Amalgam Use Surprises Researchers
June 17, 2011 — Despite improvements in resin-based composite technology, US dentists are placing more amalgam restorations than composites, and amalgam is still emphasized by US dental schools, according to the results of 2 studies published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association.
“I thought that most people were using composite,” researcher Sonia K. Makhija, DDS, MPH, an assistant professor of dentistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Medscape Medical News. “It was surprising that so many people are using amalgam.”
Dr. Makhija and colleagues in the Dental Practice-Based Research Network, a collaboration of practicing dentists who participate in research, analyzed reports from 182 US dentists on 5599 restorations of carious lesions in posterior teeth.
Overall, the dentists used amalgam for 3028 of these restorations, and composite in 2571 others. (The researchers collected no data on the 930 restorations these dentists made out of gold, glass ionomer, or anything else other than composite and amalgam.)
Although the dentists were not a statistical sample, previous studies have suggested that they are generally representative of what dentists are doing in the United States, Dr. Makhija said.
In the second study, researchers from universities in England, Wales, and Ireland and from the Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta, surveyed 67 dental schools in the United States and Canada about how they teach students to restore posterior teeth.
At the 49 schools that responded, almost half the restorations placed in 2009 and 2010 were resin-based composites. Although this was a 30% increase from a similar survey done 5 years earlier, the study authors wrote that US and Canadian schools “lag” schools in Britain and Ireland, where composite gets more attention.
Not only is composite prettier, it is less invasive because it does not require as much cavity preparation, and in recent studies it has proved at least as durable, the authors write. “These tooth-friendly features of resin-based composites make them preferable to amalgam, which has provided an invaluable service but which, we believe, now should be considered outdated for use in operative dentistry.”
They called for new national guidelines that would emphasize the superiority of composite.
However, Dr. Makhija said such guidelines are premature. “I think we don’t have enough data yet,” she said. “You can find longevity studies on both that are good.” The Dental Practice-Based Network is following up on the 5599 restorations participants placed to see how they fare in coming years.
Glass Ionomer: Pros vs Cons
Offering another perspective, Douglas A. Young, DDS, EdD, MBA, associate professor of dental practice at the University of the Pacific, San Francisco, California, told Medscape Medical News that composite itself is becoming outmoded by glass ionomer. “The selection of the restorative material should be based on its ability to fight disease,” he said.
Glass ionomer binds better to teeth because of the ionic substitution that takes place between the fluoride in the glass ionomer and the calcium phosphate in the tooth, he said. In his experience, it is just as durable as composite resin, and the fluoride that it releases helps teeth remineralize, he said. “I like to use it on dentin and cementum, especially in sealants and small restorations.”
Dr. Young also argued in favor of using glass ionomer in combination with composite in the “open sandwich” technique, which he said helps lesions remineralize underneath restorations. The authors of the study on dental schools specifically rejected this approach, arguing that dentin regenerates better with phosphoric acid rinse.
So what are dental schools teaching? In the survey, 44 of the 49 schools said they taught the total etch technique for cavities in the outer third of the dentin, whereas the other 5 taught the glass ionomer cement approach only.
For cavities in the middle third of the dentin, 24 schools taught the total etch approach, and 24 the glass ionomer approach, whereas 1 taught calcium hydroxide and glass ionomer. For those restorations in the inner third of the dentin, 6 schools taught total etch and 30 glass ionomer, with 24 schools teaching calcium hydroxide and glass ionomer.
However, dental schools teachings are only one factor in what dentists practice, Dr. Makhija found. Surprisingly, older dentists were more likely to place composite restorations, even though they were more likely to have attended dental school when this approach was less emphasized (P = .02)
Dentists who graduated in the past 5 years placed amalgam on 61% of the lesions they treated. One explanation may be that younger dentists are more likely to be in large group practices where they work on salary, rather than fee-for-service, said Dr. Makhija. The type of material might be dictated by managers of the group practice. In large group practices (4 dentists or more), 79% of the restorations were amalgam (P < .001). “It’s quicker, it’s easier and it’s cheaper to use amalgam,” Dr. Makhija said.
Dr. Makhija, Dr. Young, and the authors of the dental school survey have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
J Am Dent Assoc. 2011;142;612-620. Abstract
J Am Dent Assoc. 2011;142;622-632. Full text
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