Prevalence of Overhang Margins in Posterior Amalgam Restorations and Alveolar Bone Resorption
Prevalence of Overhang Margins in Posterior Amalgam Restorations and Alveolar Bone Resorption
Prevalence of overhang
ABSTRACT
Background: Overhanging dental restorations(ODR) are a major dental health problem, it is an etiologic factor in the
progression of periodontal disease, and are alarmingly prevalent .The purpose of this study was to determine the
prevalence of overhang margins and associated periodontal status in 100 patients, clinically detectable overhang
margins were recorded on posterior teeth.
Materials and Methods: Overhanging margins on a proximal restoration were detected by using of bitewing
radiographs. 2089 restored surfaces were evaluated, of these 1185 had overhanging margins.
Results: As far as related to their effect (ODR) on periodontal health, significantly more bone loss-attachment occurs
adjacent to ODR compared to teeth without ODR.
Conclusion: This study show high prevalence of overhanging amalgam margins, further more, this study show that
ODRs have a significant influence on periodontal status.
Keywords: Overhang, amalgam, bone resorption. (J Coll Dentistry 2005; 17(1): 11-13)
INTRODUCTION
Overhanging dental restorations (ODR) are
a major dental health problem. An ODR is
defined as an extension of restoration material
beyond the confines of a cavity preparation (1,
5).
They have been strongly implicated as an
etiologic factor in the progression of periodontal
disease and alarmingly prevalent (4, 15,26). In
addition to promoting plaque accumulation ,
they change a nondestructive subgingival flora
to a destructive one (3,,8,10,15).There is good
documentation that bleeding , gingivitis, and
bone loss increase in tissue adjacent to ODR as
compared to homologous teeth (11,12,14,22).Many
investigators(1,2,19-26)have reported upon the
adverse effect of poor restorations on the health
of the adjacent periodontal tissue. The
relationship of ODR to periodontal disease has
been studied by three methods (9-14,18,19). The
most common method is to compare the
periodontal status of teeth with ODR with
homologous teeth without ODR (12,19).
Another approach utilized extracted teeth to
directly measure attachment on tooth surface
with and without ODR (14,18). By the third
method, intentionally placed ODR were studied
in humans for their effects on the subgingival
microflora and periodontal tissue (15).
Restorative Dentistry
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RESULTS
In this study the range of the age of one
hundred subjects were (2056 years), (25)
subjects had no missing teeth, the other (75)
subjects had missing teeth. (2089) Restored
surfaces were evaluated, from (5089) surfaces
that were examined, and the other (3000)
surfaces were with no restorations.
In applying the statistical method, table (1)
show the number and percentage of overhanging
margins detected clinically and / or
radiograghically on a proximal restoration.
When comparing the restorative status of
mesial, distal, buccal and lingual surfaces, there
was a significant difference between lingual and
buccal surfaces when compared with mesial and
distal surfaces. This indicated that none
proximal sites had a much lower prevalence of
overhanging margins. There were no
statistically significant differences between
mesial and distal sites or between buccal and
lingual sites.
Periodontal disease and overhangs:
In this study the relationship of ODR to the
periodontal disease has been studied by
measuring attachment loss on tooth surfaces
with and without ODR, also the radiographic
alveolar bone levels were measured. Table (2)
shows high percentage of loss of attachment in
mesial and distal restored surfaces with
overhang margins comparing with lingual and
buccal sites, this table also show high difference
Restorative Dentistry
Prevalence of overhang
Distal
No. of Sites
Mesial Lingua Bucca Total
490
406
300
303
126
170
904
520
500
75
90
1185
820
808
201
260
2089
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J College Dentistry
DISCUSSION
The results of this study emphasize the
effects of iatrogenic factors on periodontal
inflammation. It is apparent that overhangs are
one of accumulative factors, that promote an
increase in plaque mass and increase the
specific periodontal as well as caries pathogens
in the plaque, and so overhangs are very
common and destructive to the periodontium as
well as to the tooth substance.
Many authors (19-26) have shown and
reported these effects of overhang amalgam
restorations. In this study, 51% of posterior
amalgam restorations in (100) patients had
overhanging margins, which indicates that the
prevalence of ODR were very high. This results
were in agreement with the results obtained
from other studies (16-19,21).
Also this study shows that, bone loss,
attachment loss and inflammation occurred
more significantly adjacent to ODR compared to
control teeth without ODR. Deeper pockets
were also found adjacent to ODR than control
teeth, and this again was in agreement with
other studies in this respect (6,7,11-14,).
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Prevalence of overhang
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