Use of restorative materials for direct and indirect restorations in posterior teeth by Brazilian dentists

Often, dentists perform procedures aiming at more esthetical than long-term clinical performance of restorations. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of use of different direct and indirect restorative materials in posterior teeth. Material and methods: In 2004, a questionnaire was applied to 486 dentists living at five geographical regions of Brazil. The dentists answered a questionnaire containing four questions, in which they reported the most widely used restorative material for direct (amalgam, composite resin, and glass ionomer) and indirect restorations (gold, silver, and copper/aluminum alloys, indirect resin composites, and ceramics) and specified the reason for using the material type selected. Results: In 2004, amalgam was the direct restorative material most used by dentists at almost all regions, except from South region, where resin composite was the most used. Esthetics was the main reason stated for the use of resin composites. As for indirect restorations, metallic restorations were the most used in Northeast (77.8%). No differences were found regarding the material type use between metallic and aesthetic materials at North, Southeast and Center-West regions. At South region, esthetic restorations were the most used. Conclusion:Despite the limitations of this present study, direct and indirect metallic restorations were the most common materials in 2004.