Dental erosion. Etiologic factors in a sample of Valencian children and adolescents. Cross-sectional study.

Abstract

To establish the relationship between dental erosion prevalence in children aged 6-14 and all the aetiological factors that lead to the development of the lesions. Study design: A correlational cross-sectional study of a sample of 400 Valencian children was conducted. First, a questionnaire was completed to analyse the patients' health status, their dietary and oral hygiene habits, the kind of school they attended and their parents' academic level. Then, a clinical exploration of the permanent dentition was done, calculating the BEWE index and the risk of erosion for each patient. The prevalence of dental erosion of the studied sample was 22.3%. A positive correlation was observed between the presence of dental erosion and the frequent intake of fruit juices, carbonated and isotonic drinks (p<0.05), presenting a higher correlation if the liquid was kept in the mouth before swallowing. Aetiological factors such as the use of inhalers in patients with asthma (p=0.006), frequency of vomiting and regurgitation (p<0.001), frequent swimmers (p<0.001) or a low socioeconomic status (p<0.05) were also positively associated to the development of erosive lesions. A descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was performed, using the Mann-Whitney U and the Kruskal-Wallis tests in the latter. The results of this study suggest that the frequent intake of fruit juices, carbonated and isotonic drinks, the use of inhalers and belonging to a low socioeconomic level family are factors positively associated to the development of erosive lesions.