TOOTH WEAR AND ITS RELATED FACTORS: FINDINGS FROM A HOSPITAL BASED STUDY

Abstract

Tooth wear depicts the non-carious loss of tooth tissue in three ways, which may occur individually or in combination. These are attrition, erosion and abrasion. Attrition depicts loss of tooth tissue by mastication or friction between occluding surface. Erosion however, is the loss of hard dental tissues by chemical processes and bacterial activity. Abrasion, on the other hand is pathological loss of tooth tissue from repetitive mechanical contact apart from tooth to tooth contact. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the frequency of tooth wear and its associated factors among patients attending out-patient department at Dow Dental College. The study enrolled 400 patients. A total of 24 teeth of each patient were scored between 0 and 4 according to the severity of tooth wear using tooth wear index. Factors associated with tooth wear were assessed and recorded using questionnaire. Out of 400 patients examined 182 (45%) were male and the overall mean age was 41 years (± 9). Only 10% participants had tooth wear in our study. It is concluded that tooth wear was found to be not common among patients presenting at the out-patient clinic of Dow Dental College. Factors like teeth grinding, jaws clenching, gastric reflux disease, use of Vitamin C supplements, carbonated drinks and citrus fruits were found to be related with tooth wear.