Direct posterior coronal restoration: Practice of students clinicians of the odonto-stomatological consultation and treatment center of Abidjan

Introduction: Dental amalgam and adhesive materials (composite resin and glass ionomer cement) are commonly used for occluso-functional and esthetic teeth rehabilitation. The objective of this study was to assess direct posterior coronal restorative materials used by 19 students’ clinicians’ classes. Material and Methods: A retrospective study was carried out to collect from students’ performed care records the different types of restorations’ data from 1994 to 2016. The choice of materials is estimated according to education levels [1st year Master (M1), 2nd year Master (M2) 1st year Doctorate (D1)]. The collected data was processed with SPSS software. Pearson chi-square test was used to compare qualitative variables and the significance threshold set at 5%. Results: From 1994 to 2016, there were 11 registers recording 19 students’ classes distributed according to education levels. In all, 6,033 posterior teeth procedures were performed on 3,134 patients. These restorations refer to 73.4% of molars and 26.6% of premolars. In 1994, the amalgam was used for 99.86% and adhesive materials for 0.14%. However, in 2016, these same materials were frequently used in 78.86% to 21.14% for the amalgam. Between the first year of Master (M1) and the last year (D1), the use of amalgam declines over the years while that of adhesive materials increases. Conclusion: It seems, in recent years, that under the influence of educational approaches centered on adhesive materials, youngest practitioners are using composite resin more for posterior restorations compared with senior practitioners. Keywords: Adhesive materials, Dental amalgam, Posterior coronal restorations, Students clinicians.