Objectives: The aim of this review was to analyse the prevalence of prosthetic dental restorations in the adult population in Europe and to investigate factors influencing the frequencies of fixed restorations and removable dental prostheses (RDP).
Material and methods: A search for literature up to 31 October 2006 on dental restorations was performed in Medline via PubMed and in an additional hand search using several keywords related to epidemiology and dental restorations. Out of approximately 6000 titles listed, 136 articles were identified, which were related to 13 different European countries. 43 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in this review.
Results: Approximately half of the adult population in most European countries have had some type of prosthetic dental restoration. The frequency of RDPs among adults varied between 13 and 29%, with 3-13% edentulous subjects wearing complete dentures in both jaws. The frequency of fixed restorations including crowns and fixed dental prostheses (FDPs, bridges) was the highest in Sweden with 45% and Switzerland (34%). In the recent decades, there has been a slight decrease in RDP use reflecting a decline in edentulism, while more subjects had maintained a residual dentition and were wearing removable partial dentures or fixed restorations. The latter are less prevalent in countries with lower prosperity. If only a few teeth are absent, these are generally replaced with FDPs or have no replacement. If more teeth are missing, the likelihood of a removable restoration increases with the number of teeth to be replaced. A higher frequency of removable restorations is present in older age groups, in subjects living in rural areas, in those from a lower socio-economic status and in subjects with less education and lower incomes.
Conclusions: All types of fixed and removable restorations are highly prevalent, especially among older age groups, in most European countries. There is a trend towards higher frequencies of fixed restorations, more removable partial dentures and a reduction in complete dentures.