National oral health survey Zimbabwe 1995: quality of restorations

In 1995, a second national oral health survey was carried out, ten years after the first. Application of a multi-stage sampling procedure resulted in 3709 persons being examined. The restorations were assessed using the criteria described by Kroeze et al (1990). Only ditches on the tooth/restoration margins that were wider than 0.4 mm were considered to be carious. The background variables studied were age, gender, type of location, socioeconomic status (SES) and level of education. The prevalence of restorations in all persons examined was 3.4 per cent. Restorations were found much more often among urban (95.5 per cent) than rural people (4.5 per cent) and also among those living in high (75 per cent) compared to low SES suburbs (25 per cent). Amalgam was more often used (89 per cent) than composite resin (10 per cent). The most frequently observed type of restoration was Class I (45 per cent) followed by Class II (39 per cent) and Class III (7 per cent). The prevalence of satisfactory restorations was 83.9 per cent. Failures were due to 'fractured restorations' (6.3 per cent), 'caries at the margin' and 'breakdown of restoration margin', both 4 per cent. Amongst adults, multiple-surface amalgam restorations failed more often than single-surface ones. It is concluded that the prevalence of restorations found was very low. There is a need to extend the provision of preventive and restorative oral health care by a more equitable distribution of oral health personnel and by making more finance available to rural and low-SES suburban areas.