Prevalence of Dental Erosion in a Group of Schoolchildren from Benghazi, Libya

Abstract

Introduction Dental erosion appears to be a relatively recent condition. The interest in studying dental erosion has arisen in recent decades, especially following the decline in prevalence of dental caries in children from developed countries [1-4]. Dental erosion has been defined as a progressive irreversible loss of dental hard tissues by a chemical process, not involving bacteria [5-7]. The typical clinical features of dental erosion in anterior teeth include silky-glazed appearance (absence of perikymata) of intact enamel along the gingival margin; while posterior teeth are manifested with cupping and grooving on occlusal surfaces [8]. The fact that some individuals are more prone to develop dental erosion reflects the multifactorial nature whereby interaction of chemical, biological and behavioural factors explains such variation [9,10].