Abstract
Tooth wear is a universal consequence of aging. It is an irreversible, multifactorial and destructive loss of dental hard tissues caused by either a mechanical or chemical process in the absence of caries or trauma. It can be a physiological and age dependent process. The risk factors that contribute to tooth wear are diet, bruxism, environment, occupation, oral health behaviour, acid regurgitation and use of tobacco. This study was done to find out if there is an association between tooth wear and its associated factors. So that we can educate the patients about the various factors causing tooth wear and minimise it. This cross sectional study was done amongst 339 patients. The clinical assessment of tooth wear was done using tooth wear index developed by Smith & Knight. A specifically designed questionnaire was used to seek information on risk factors of tooth wear. All patients were categorised into one of the following groups: Low Tooth Wear group, Moderate Tooth Wear group, Severe Tooth Wear group based on their individual tooth wear surface scores. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s chi-square test and descriptive statistics were calculated. We can see that the severity of tooth wear increases with age i.e, p≤0.05 which is statistically significant. Patients with self reported tooth sensitivity (60.5%) had a higher total tooth wear score than those who didn’t (39.5%) and the result was statistically significant. The results of our study show that tooth wear is a consequence of aging and there is an association between tooth wear and dentinal hypersensitivity.
Highlights
Tooth wear is a universal consequence of aging.[1]
Among the male patients 97.4% of tooth wear was seen in maxilla and 99.3% of tooth wear was seen in mandible
Where as in female patients 97.3% of tooth wear was seen in maxilla and 100% in mandible (Fig. 1)
Summary
Tooth wear is a universal consequence of aging.[1]. It can be defined as an irreversible, multifactorial and destructive loss of dental hard tissues caused by mechanical and chemical processes or either a mechanical or chemical process in the absence of caries or trauma.[2,3] This is a common problem but most often isn’t treated. The presence of tooth wear might become more noticeable nowadays and in future, due to the current substantial decline in dental caries. This occurrence could be due to increased dental awareness and people becoming more interested in keeping their dentition healthy for a longer time which could be exposed to wear.[4]. In occlusal and palatal erosive wear other factors than acid may play a role in the occurrence of tooth substance loss.[9] The workers of the industry are highly exposed to harmful elements, acids in their work environment which is considered responsible for dental erosion.[10] Factors such as attrition abrasion and even friction of tongue can interact with acid and result in accelerated wear of the teeth.[11]
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