Method: Patients (83) had 375 class I and II posterior restorations placed between 1994 and 2001 by one single dentist in a private dental office. Patients attended regularly the same dental clinic (at least once every 02 years). Restorations were evaluated by 2 calibrated examiners according to FDI criteria. Data were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and Log-Rank tests. To compare different variables, a multivariate Cox regression analysis was done.
Result: From the 375 restorations that were evaluated, 45 restorations failed during the follow-up period. Similar rates of survival of the three resins were observed up to 10 years. After 17 years significant differences were observed between materials, with Herculite having the highest survival rate (85%), followed by Z100 (79%) and the lowest rate for Charisma (64%). The overall Annual failure rate after 17 years was 1.16. Increasing number of restoration-surfaces resulted in a reduced longevity with four or more surfaces restorations having a 11 times more risk for failure than those with one surface.
Conclusion: The composites evaluated had a satisfactory performance after 17 years. Only on the long term significant different performance was observed between materials.