title: The extensively restored posteriortooth has a high incidence of tooth fracture.
abstract: A multicentred practice based study was established to test the hypothesis that the extensively restored tooth has a high incidence of posterior tooth fracture (PTF). All patients who presented with PTF in 23 general dental practices over a period of 14 weeks were included in the study. 764 PTF restorations were placed out of a total of 7551, an incidence of 10%. A novel classification proposing increased severity of fracture from I-IV was used. Class I = 19%, II = 54%, III = 22% and IV = 5%. Primary PTFs accounted for 67%, secondary 33%. 92% offractured teeth had a Class 2 restoration in situ. The heavily restored tooth has been shown to have a high incidence of PTF and it is suggested that this is a major restorative problem in general dental practice in the UK.
authors.affiliation: King's College London Dental Institute, Department of Prosthodontics. pfdrymouth@aol.com
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Radford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014082:Tooth Fractures / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy