Historically, dams were built to power mills, provide energy (e.g. hydro power), and for recreation, yet, many dams are no longer needed for these purposes, leaving them abandoned and unregulated. Dam removal has become an attractive stream restoration strategy; however, some dam removals may harm surrounding biotic communities due to sediment mobilization, high flows, and rapid water level declines during the removal, especially impacting species that are relatively sessile like freshwater mussels. Studies documenting mussel responses to dam removal are often limited to one site and have conflicting results. The uniqueness of each dam (e.g., dam height, dam purpose), site conditions (e.g., channel flow, stream width, surrounding landscape), removal process (e.g., timing, phased, breached), and species-specific tolerances may account for the variability on how dams and dam removals affect freshwater mussel assemblages, but make it challenging for practitioners to predict the outcome of a planned dam removal and address essential mitigation strategies. Here, we conducted a global meta-analysis to synthesize information across studies and inform expected impacts of dams and dam removals on freshwater mussels based on site-specific conditions. We extracted information from peer-reviewed and grey literature on freshwater mussel survey methods and response, habitat, dam characteristics, and mitigation practices. We hypothesized that older dams and run-of-river dams will have higher mussel abundances downstream compared to newer, larger dams due to the longer recolonization periods and the semi-consistent flow creating habitat refugia. We expect opportunistic species to recover quicker and the immediate impact to be less stressful from a phased dam removal as compared to all-at-once dam breaching. Information gained from this study will directly inform managers and researchers on how to mitigate any impacts of dams/dam removals based on their site-specific conditions.