In vivo Measurements of Tooth Wear over 12 Months

Abstract

The aim of this study was to measure the progression of tooth wear in a cohort of 63 patients, 43 males and 20 females with a mean age of 39.1 years. Recruitment followed referral from general practice to Guy’s Hospital for advice/management of tooth wear. Addition silicone impressions were taken at 6-month intervals for a total of 12 months; impressions were subsequently poured in type IV gypsum. Casts were scanned using a non-contacting laser profilometer and then superimposed using Geomagic® Qualify 11. Wear was measured in µm by tooth per time interval. A questionnaire highlighting dietary, parafunctional and gastric risk factors was obtained from each participant. Clustered multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between tooth wear progression and risk factors. Maximum follow-up times were 6 months for 63 participants and 12 months for 30 participants. The measurement error was 15 µm. At the tooth level, 72.2% of 1,078 teeth wore <15 µm over a 6-month period. At the subject level, 77.7% of 63 participants showed median wear <15 µm over a 6-month period. There was a statistical trend towards tooth wear progression being associated with gastric risk factors (p < 0.05). The lower molars and the upper anterior teeth were the most commonly affected teeth; the lower molars and the upper central incisors were the most severely affected teeth. Tooth wear progression was slow in this cohort, suggesting that tooth wear may be cyclical and inactive in the majority of participants.

Measurement of surface roughness changes of unpolished and polished enamel following erosion

“…The use of replica techniques or impressions for longitudinal studies measuring volume loss has been established in erosion studies [15,38]. Replica techniques have also been established for qualitative assessment in enamel erosion studies using SEM [39].…”

Gastro‐oesophageal reflux is common in oligosymptomatic patients with dental erosion: A pH‐impedance and endoscopic study

“…Loss of dental tissue occurs very gradually, with less than 15 mm per 6 months reflecting normal tooth wear and 30-40 mm loss annually constituting severe erosion. 36 Clearly, macroscopically visible erosions are preceded by a protracted period of erosive and demineralizing forces. Furthermore, quantification of proximal oesophageal or even pharyngeal reflux is unlikely to linearly reflect surface dental pH.…”

Three‐dimensional in vitro measurements of tooth wear using fluoridated dentifrices

“…Contacting and non-contacting profilometry has been widely used to measure tooth wear in vitro (9) , in situ (20) and in vivo (21) with the use of surface metrology (22) or surface matching software (12) . Conventionally, enamel samples are polished flat and a protected section of the sample serves as a reference area to measure wear.…”

“…The tooth wear measurement method using surface profilometry and surface matching software (Geomagic® Qualify 2012) was adapted from Rodriguez et al (2012) and (2011) (21;24) with the addition of wear resistant ball bearings to serve as stable reference points to aid the superimpositional process. Furthermore, in this study, samples were directly scanned on the profilometer to remove inaccuracies caused by dimensional changes of dental materials which has been shown to influence the accuracy of in vitro tooth wear measurements (25) .…”