Tooth wear

Tooth wear
Other namesNon-carious tooth substance loss
Lower teeth shows signs of tooth wear likely caused by erosion
SpecialtyDentistry

Tooth wear refers to loss of tooth substance by means other than dental caries.[1] Tooth wear is a very common condition that occurs in approximately 97% of the population.[2] This is a normal physiological process occurring throughout life; but with increasing lifespan of individuals and increasing retention of teeth for life, the incidence of non-carious tooth surface loss has also shown a rise.[3] Tooth wear varies substantially between people and groups, with extreme attrition and enamel fractures common in archaeological samples, and erosion more common today.[3][4][5]

Tooth wear is predominantly the result of a combination of three processes; attrition, abrasion and erosion.[3] These forms of tooth wear can further lead to a condition known as abfraction,[3] where by tooth tissue is 'fractured' due to stress lesions caused by extrinsic forces on the enamel. Tooth wear is a complex, multi-factorial problem and there is often difficulty identifying a single causative factor.[3] However, tooth wear is often a combination of the above processes. Many clinicians, therefore, make diagnoses such as "tooth wear with a major element of attrition", or "tooth wear with a major element of erosion" to reflect this. This makes the diagnosis and management difficult.[1] Therefore, it is important to distinguish between these various types of tooth wear, provide an insight into diagnosis, risk factors, and causative factors, in order to implement appropriate interventions.[1] Tooth wear evaluation system (TWES) may help determine the most likely aetiology of tooth wear.[6] Heavy tooth wear is commonly found on the occlusal (chewing) surface, but non-carious cervical lesions from tooth wear are also common in some populations.[7]

Multiple indices have been developed in order to assess and record the degree of tooth wear, the earliest was that by Paul Broca.[8] In 1984, Smith and Knight developed the tooth wear index (TWI) where four visible surfaces (buccal, cervical, lingual, occlusal-incisal) of all teeth present are scored for wear, regardless of the cause.[8] A more recent index Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE) from 2008 by Bartlett et al., is now also in use.[9]

  1. ^ a b c Kaidonis JA (August 2012). "Oral diagnosis and treatment planning: part 4. Non-carious tooth surface loss and assessment of risk". British Dental Journal. 213 (4): 155–61. doi:10.1038/sj.bdj.2012.722. PMID 22918343.
  2. ^ Suchetha A (2014). "Tooth Wear — A Literature Review". Indian Journal of Dental Sciences. 5 (6): 116–120.
  3. ^ a b c d e Bhushan J, Joshi R (2011). "Tooth Wear — An Overview With Special Emphasis On Dental Erosion". Indian Journal of Dental Sciences. 5 (3): 89.
  4. ^ Towle, Ian; Irish, Joel D.; Groote, Isabelle De (2017). "Behavioral inferences from the high levels of dental chipping in Homo naledi" (PDF). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 164 (1): 184–192. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23250. ISSN 1096-8644. PMID 28542710. S2CID 24296825.
  5. ^ Smith, B. Holly (1984). "Patterns of molar wear in hunter–gatherers and agriculturalists" (PDF). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 63 (1): 39–56. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330630107. hdl:2027.42/37625. ISSN 1096-8644. PMID 6422767.
  6. ^ Wetselaar, P.; Lobbezoo, F. (January 2016). "The tooth wear evaluation system: a modular clinical guideline for the diagnosis and management planning of worn dentitions". Journal of Oral Rehabilitation. 43 (1): 69–80. doi:10.1111/joor.12340. PMID 26333037.
  7. ^ Towle, Ian; Irish, Joel D.; Elliott, Marina; De Groote, Isabelle (2018-09-01). "Root grooves on two adjacent anterior teeth of Australopithecus africanus" (PDF). International Journal of Paleopathology. 22: 163–7. doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.02.004. ISSN 1879-9817. PMID 30126662. S2CID 52056962.
  8. ^ a b López-Frías FJ, Castellanos-Cosano L, Martín-González J, Llamas-Carreras JM, Segura-Egea JJ (February 2012). "Clinical measurement of tooth wear: Tooth wear indices". Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dentistry. 4 (1): e48–53. doi:10.4317/jced.50592. PMC 3908810. PMID 24558525.
  9. ^ Lussi A, Ganss C (2014-06-24). Erosive tooth wear : from diagnosis to therapy. Vol. 20 (2nd ed.). Basel: Karger. ISBN 978-3-318-02553-8. OCLC 875630033.