142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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How did we get to where we are with restoring carious teeth?

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 : 8:35 AM - 8:55 AM

Howard F. Pollick, BDS, MPH , School of Dentistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Over its long clinical history, dental amalgam has evolved and is effective as a low-cost dental restorative treatment, with potential clinical lifetimes in excess of several decades under appropriate conditions. (Marshall et al. 1992) However, the use of dental amalgam has been declining by 3.7% annually (32% of all restorations in 2005 in the US) and has been substituted with dramatically increasing use of composites (46%) and crowns (22%), with nearly one in 5 people having received a restoration annually. (Beazoglou et al. 2007)   There are both problems and benefits of amalgam and composite restorative materials for dental caries.  This presentation will explain how this trend to use less dental amalgam has increased the cost of restoring teeth and new restorative materials and techniques are likely to increase the cost even more.

Learning Areas:

Basic medical science applied in public health
Clinical medicine applied in public health
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Describe at least two problems and two benefits of both amalgam and composite restorative materials for dental caries. Identify at least two reasons why the cost of restoring teeth would increase if amalgam restorations are no longer used.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a practicing California dentist, diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health, and past chair of the APHA Oral Health Section. I have presented on the topic of the phase down of dental amalgam.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5072.0: The Minamata Convention on Mercury: Implications for the Environment, Occupational Health, and Dental Public Health