The aim of this study was to compare the results of the level of treatment need as judged from a sample drawn from the general population aged 35, 50, and 65 years with treatments performed in 1992 and 1993 on patients of matched ages. Both the sample and the patients lived in Västerbotten in the northern part of Sweden. In all three age groups there was a significantly higher frequency of restorative treatment performed than the professionally assessed need in the epidemiologic sample. In all ages examined, treatment aimed at rehabilitation of temporomandibular disorders was performed statistically significantly (p<0.001) less frequently than the evaluated need in the population. A similar result was found for dentures among 65-year-olds. The results may reflect dental care paradigms favoring operations on single teeth rather than treatments aimed at functional rehabilitation on a broader sense.