Prevalence of noncarious hard dental tissue lesions in adults at various age periods

Abstract

This article deals with geriodontic and gender features of the prevalence of noncarious lesions in adult hard dental tissue. It presents data from epidemiologic research on the prevalence of hard dental tissue noncarious lesions (advanced dental attrition, wedge-shaped defects, erosion, and hyperesthesia). For the purpose of the research, four age groups were established in the examined patients: young age—from 22 to 39 years; middle age—from 40 to 59 years; senior age—from 60 to 74 years; and old age—from 75 to 87 years. The following general scientific and special research methods were used to determine the prevalence rates for hard dental tissue noncarious lesions of various types in the established age groups: interviews, dental examinations, categorization, and statistical and mathematical data processing methods applied to a randomly chosen representative subset of a population. Rates of hard dental tissue noncarious lesion in the sample population were found to be ranked in the following sequence (from low to high): advanced attrition, wedgeshaped defects, erosion of dental tissues, and hyperesthesia. We also identified the clinical features of noncarious lesions, e.g., the combination of advanced attrition with wedge-shaped defects and erosions was found to be a rare occurrence. On the other hand, the hard dental tissue pathologies mentioned above were found to be often related to their hyperesthesia. We also managed to identify certain patterns in the frequency of various hard dental tissue noncarious lesions that depended on age. It was observed that people of the elderly age groups more often require preventive dental care and treatment due to hard dental tissue noncarious lesions in order to eliminate abnormal sensitivity and reinstate lost hard dental tissue by means of therapeutic intervention or dental prosthetics.