Abstract
Objective: To quantify dental biofilm through the simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S) proposed by Greene and Vermillion in children with dental erosion comparing them to children without this oral health problem. Material and Methods: The study included 48 children aged 4-9 years treated at the Clinic of Pediatric Dentistry of the Cruzeiro do Sul University, examined by a single trained and calibrated examiner according to O'Brien index for the diagnosis of dental erosion, in which 24 children had erosion lesions in teeth and 24 children did not have this oral health problem. Later, children received guidance and standardization for the OHI-S evaluation. Data were analyzed by the Poisson univariate logistic regression. Prevalence ratio (PR) values and 95% confidence intervals (CI 95%) were calculated. Results: The mean (standard deviation) of the OHI-S of children who had dental erosion was 1.19 (0.38), lower than children in the group without dental erosion 1.73 (0.44). The amount of biofilm on teeth was associated with the presence of dental erosion (OR 95% CI = 0.393; 0188-0822) and p-value = 0.013. Regarding the reduction in the WSL dimension, no significant difference between groups was observed (p = 0.931). Conclusion: Children with dental erosion showed a significantly lower amount of biofilm compared to children without this oral health problem, and dental biofilm can be a possible protective factor against acid attacks and development of dental erosion.
Highlights
Considered an oral health problem [1], dental erosion has been studied for centuries [2,3], but in recent years, it has been observed that its prevalence is increasing, making it one of the leading oral health problems especially in children and adolescents [4,7] due to recent changes in lifestyle [8,9].Dental erosion is caused by a chemical process of irreversible loss of mineral and surface structure of the teeth, arising from an acid aggression without bacterial involvement [10,11]
Erosive lesions resulting from acid attack affect specific regions of the teeth, but the enamel portions located near the gingival margin remain intact, possibly due to the presence of biofilm accumulated in the region that can act as a mechanical barrier against acid attack and possibly be a protective factor [5,11,13,15]
Both dental caries and periodontal disease are directly related to the biofilm, since changes in these micro-colonies of bacteria attached by a matrix and adhered to dental surfaces may make them become ill [16], which may be related to dental erosion
Summary
Considered an oral health problem [1], dental erosion has been studied for centuries [2,3], but in recent years, it has been observed that its prevalence is increasing, making it one of the leading oral health problems especially in children and adolescents [4,7] due to recent changes in lifestyle [8,9]. Erosive lesions resulting from acid attack affect specific regions of the teeth, but the enamel portions located near the gingival margin remain intact, possibly due to the presence of biofilm accumulated in the region that can act as a mechanical barrier against acid attack and possibly be a protective factor [5,11,13,15] Both dental caries and periodontal disease are directly related to the biofilm, since changes in these micro-colonies of bacteria attached by a matrix and adhered to dental surfaces may make them become ill [16], which may be related to dental erosion. This study aimed to quantify the presence of biofilm on the dental surfaces of children with dental erosion comparing them to children without the disease and establish a possible relationship between the presence of biofilm and a protective factor against dental erosion
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