Direct restorations and enhanced caries prevention among 20- to 60-year-olds attending Helsinki City Public Dental Service - a register-based observation.

Objective: Our retrospective register-based observational study evaluated age-specific aspects and changes in volume and content of direct restorative procedures, pulp cappings and enhanced caries prevention measures given to adults.

Methods: Data included all treatments provided for 20- to 60-year-olds visiting the Helsinki City Public Dental Service (PDS) in 2012 and 2017. For both years, the data were aggregated into 5-year age groups. Data included means of DMFT indices, number and size of direct restorations, number of specific codes for pulp cappings and enhanced prevention.

Results: Around half of all patients received restorations, 39,820 (50.9%) in 2012 and 43,392 (45.9%) in 2017. The greatest increase in DMFT means by age cohort was found for the 2012 age cohort of 25- to 29-year-olds and the smallest for the 2012 age cohort of 45- to 49-year-olds. In each same-age group and each age cohort, the enhanced prevention in 2017 was less frequent than in 2012. The proportion of two-surface restorations accounted for 44.7% of procedures in 2012 and 45.9% in 2017, followed by an increasing proportion of one-surface restorations, from 28.3% in 2012 to 32.9% in 2017. Associations between restoration size and age group were highly significant ( < .001).

Conclusions: The volume of direct restorative procedures and enhanced prevention measures were strongly age-dependent. Restorative treatment procedures were more frequent in older age groups than in younger age groups, and vice versa for enhanced prevention and pulp cappings. The magnitude of restorative treatment decreased slowly from 2012 to 2017, and overall enhanced preventive treatment was limited.