The factors determining the success of dental work in the UK have been revealed in a series of studies at Birmingham University. Led by Professor Trevor Burke, success was measured by how long fillings survived in patients' teeth, and the team studied factors relating to the patients, their dentists, and the time and location of where the work was carried out.

Professor Burke and colleagues found that fillings survived longer in younger than in older patients, longer for those who paid for their dental treatment than for those who received it free, and longer for those who visited the dentist rarely than those who visited often.

Looking at the characteristics of dentists, the team found that the work of older dentists lasted less well than work carried out by their younger colleagues. More experience did not appear to lead to better work and no differences were found for dentists who had qualified in any country across Europe, with all nations' dentists conducting work that had equal longevity. Whether the dentist was a man or a woman had no bearing on the quality and endurance of their work. The researchers found that fillings lasted for a shorter time today than they did ten years ago and survival was found to have nothing to do with water fluoridation, while fillings in Wales lasted significantly longer than those undertaken in England. The papers were put together in collaboration with Professor Raman Bedi and are published in the Journal of Dentistry.