The longevity of restorations - a literature review

Abstract

Dentists need to consider various factors when choosing restorative materials, with the longevity of restorations being one of the most important criteria. Replacement of failed restorations constitutes over 60% of operative procedures, leading to high annual costs. This literature review compares the survival rates of different restorative materials used for both direct and indirect restorations. A literature search was carried out using Pubmed to identify all articles on restorative materials published from 1974 to 2014, of which 22 were included in this review. For direct restorations, amalgam showed the highest survival rates (22.5 years), with an average survival rate of 95% over 10 years, followed by composite resins (90% over 10 years), and glass ionomer cements (65% over 5 years). For indirect restorations, gold restorations are still the “gold standard” with a 96% over 10 years survival rate, followed by porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns (PFM) (90% over 10 years), and all ceramic crowns (75-80% over 10 years). Amongst the ceramic restorations, eMax shows the longest survival rate (90% over 10 years), and Zirconia the lowest (88% over five years). The longevity of restorations depends on many factors, including: materials used, type of restorative procedure, patient parameters, operator variables, and local factors.