Long-term survival of repaired amalgams, recemented crowns and gold castings

This retrospective longitudinal study compared the long-term survival rate of repaired versus replaced amalgam restorations and recemented crowns and gold castings versus non-recemented similar restorations. Private general dental practitioners treated adult subjects at three city practices. No significant survival differences were found between the repaired and replaced amalgams at five years, although the repaired amalgams showed higher failure rates by 10 years (p=0.37). However, there were significantly higher failures by five years for recemented crowns (p<0.001) and recemented gold castings (p=0.01) when compared with the initially cemented restorations. After 10 years, the repaired amalgams had survival rates of approximately 37 +/- 15 (SEr) percent, recemented crowns 28 +/- 15 (SEr) percent and recemented gold castings 42 +/- 17 (SEr) percent.