Teaching and placement of dental amalgam restorations at South African dental schools.

Introduction: This paper set out to investigate the relationship between teaching and clinical practice of direct posterior restoration placement at tertiary dental institutions in South Africa.

Methods: A cross-sectional study using a mixed methods approach was conducted, and all the South African dental schools were invited to participate. The quantitative phase of the study analyzed the Conservative Dentistry department's records of direct restorations at a single dental school.