SELECTION OF RESTORATIVE MATERIALS IN DENTAL TREATMENT OF CHILDREN AND ADULTS IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE DENTAL-CARE IN FINLAND

To obtain information on the present selection of dental restorative m aterials and factors related to it, questionnaires were sent to a rand om sample of public health centres (47) and private dental practitione rs (716) in May 1992. The dentists were asked to collect information o n all fillings they placed during 3 and 1 working days, respectively. The study material consisted of 9886 fillings placed by 855 dentists. Glass ionomer was the major filling material in children younger than 17 years, ninety-one per cent of the fillings in deciduous teeth and 4 7% of those in permanent teeth were inserted using that material. In a dults, composite was the most frequently used material, fifty-two per cent of the fillings placed by private practitioners and 43% of those placed in health centres. In total, amalgam was used in 15% of filling s placed for patients 0-16 years old and in 29% of fillings in adults. The results show that in children, glass ionomer is the most frequent ly used filling material and the use of amalgam is very limited. In ad ults as well, amalgam seems to be increasingly replaced by other filli ng materials.