diff --git a/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/RecordEventsReadableSpan.java b/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/RecordEventsReadableSpan.java
index 10b2c319751..3287d10542f 100644
--- a/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/RecordEventsReadableSpan.java
+++ b/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/RecordEventsReadableSpan.java
@@ -59,8 +59,6 @@ final class RecordEventsReadableSpan implements ReadableSpan, Span {
   // The displayed name of the span.
   // List of recorded links to parent and child spans.
   private final List<Link> links;
-  // Number of links recorded.
-  private final int totalRecordedLinks;
 
   // Lock used to internally guard the mutable state of this instance
   private final Object lock = new Object();
@@ -115,7 +113,6 @@ final class RecordEventsReadableSpan implements ReadableSpan, Span {
    * @param resource the resource associated with this span.
    * @param attributes the attributes set during span creation.
    * @param links the links set during span creation, may be truncated.
-   * @param totalRecordedLinks the total number of links set (including dropped links).
    * @return a new and started span.
    */
   @VisibleForTesting
@@ -132,7 +129,6 @@ static RecordEventsReadableSpan startSpan(
       Resource resource,
       AttributesWithCapacity attributes,
       List<Link> links,
-      int totalRecordedLinks,
       long startEpochNanos) {
     RecordEventsReadableSpan span =
         new RecordEventsReadableSpan(
@@ -148,7 +144,6 @@ static RecordEventsReadableSpan startSpan(
             resource,
             attributes,
             links,
-            totalRecordedLinks,
             startEpochNanos == 0 ? clock.now() : startEpochNanos);
     // Call onStart here instead of calling in the constructor to make sure the span is completely
     // initialized.
@@ -498,14 +493,12 @@ private RecordEventsReadableSpan(
       Resource resource,
       AttributesWithCapacity attributes,
       List<Link> links,
-      int totalRecordedLinks,
       long startEpochNanos) {
     this.context = context;
     this.instrumentationLibraryInfo = instrumentationLibraryInfo;
     this.parentSpanId = parentSpanId;
     this.hasRemoteParent = hasRemoteParent;
     this.links = links;
-    this.totalRecordedLinks = totalRecordedLinks;
     this.name = name;
     this.kind = kind;
     this.spanProcessor = spanProcessor;
@@ -529,16 +522,6 @@ protected void finalize() throws Throwable {
     super.finalize();
   }
 
-  /**
-   * The count of links that have been dropped.
-   *
-   * @return The number of links that have been dropped.
-   */
-  @VisibleForTesting
-  int getDroppedLinksCount() {
-    return totalRecordedLinks - links.size();
-  }
-
   @VisibleForTesting
   int getNumberOfChildren() {
     synchronized (lock) {
diff --git a/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SpanBuilderSdk.java b/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SpanBuilderSdk.java
index bf5707c37f7..07a9c43eb39 100644
--- a/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SpanBuilderSdk.java
+++ b/sdk/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SpanBuilderSdk.java
@@ -127,8 +127,8 @@ public Span.Builder addLink(SpanContext spanContext, Map<String, AttributeValue>
   @Override
   public Span.Builder addLink(Link link) {
     Utils.checkNotNull(link, "link");
-    //don't bother doing anything with any links beyond the max.
-    //todo: generate a metric for dropped links
+    // don't bother doing anything with any links beyond the max.
+    // todo: generate a metric for dropped links
     if (links.size() == traceConfig.getMaxNumberOfLinks()) {
       return this;
     }
@@ -222,7 +222,6 @@ public Span startSpan() {
         resource,
         attributes,
         links,
-        links.size(),
         startEpochNanos);
   }
 
diff --git a/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/RecordEventsReadableSpanTest.java b/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/RecordEventsReadableSpanTest.java
index 7b1cc394257..5fd0ca4d1a8 100644
--- a/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/RecordEventsReadableSpanTest.java
+++ b/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/RecordEventsReadableSpanTest.java
@@ -485,7 +485,6 @@ private RecordEventsReadableSpan createTestSpan(
             resource,
             attributesWithCapacity,
             Collections.singletonList(link),
-            1,
             0);
     Mockito.verify(spanProcessor, Mockito.times(1)).onStart(span);
     return span;
@@ -572,7 +571,6 @@ public void testAsSpanData() {
             resource,
             attributesWithCapacity,
             links,
-            1,
             0);
     long startEpochNanos = clock.now();
     clock.advanceMillis(4);
diff --git a/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SpanBuilderSdkTest.java b/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SpanBuilderSdkTest.java
index 9af221c4ca3..a00e53953dc 100644
--- a/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SpanBuilderSdkTest.java
+++ b/sdk/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SpanBuilderSdkTest.java
@@ -110,7 +110,6 @@ public void truncateLink() {
     }
     RecordEventsReadableSpan span = (RecordEventsReadableSpan) spanBuilder.startSpan();
     try {
-      assertThat(span.getDroppedLinksCount()).isEqualTo(maxNumberOfLinks);
       assertThat(span.getLinks().size()).isEqualTo(maxNumberOfLinks);
       for (int i = 0; i < maxNumberOfLinks; i++) {
         assertThat(span.getLinks().get(i)).isEqualTo(SpanData.Link.create(sampledSpanContext));