Knowledge on and treatment practices of erosive tooth wear among Finnish dentists

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate Finnish dentists' knowledge on and means of recording, detecting and diagnosing erosive tooth wear (ETW). Treatment options and possible differences in treatment decisions between general and specialized dentists were also evaluated. Materials and methods: An electronic questionnaire was sent by e-mail to 3664 Finnish dentists. Respondents' gender, age, work experience, field of specialty, and practice location were requested. The questionnaire also included a patient case where the dentists were asked about their choice of treatment. Statistical analyses were performed using means, proportions, and cross tabulations. Results: Response rate was 24% (n ¼ 866). Almost all respondents (98.0%) recorded ETW in patient files, but only 4.1% used a detailed scoring system. Of the respondents, 64.4% usually found the cause of ETW. Use of carbonated beverages (84.3%), energy drinks (57.0%), and reflux disease (53.1%) were reported to be probable causes. The majority of the respondents (80.9%) usually assessed patient's dietary history while 1.9% evaluated saliva secretion rate. When asked about treatment decisions of ETW patients, the differences between general dentists and specialized dentists were not as obvious as hypothesized. Conclusions: This study suggests that the Finnish dentists who participated in this survey are able to detect and/or diagnose erosive tooth wear, but there is variation in recording it. The differences in treatment decisions between general dentists and specialized dentists seem to be moderate. The treatment practices for ETW are not established and further research to create clinical guidelines seems to be needed.

Nutrition Care Practices of Dietitians and Oral Health Professionals for Oral Health Conditions: A Scoping Review

“…Thirteen articles reported information on general/unspecific dietary assessment practices (e.g., dietary analysis, dietary history, assessment of dietary habits, asking about dietary behaviour, diet history review and analysis) of oral health professionals (cross-sectional survey studies (n = 10) [33,36,38,39,41,42,44,[46][47][48]; chart review studies (n = 2) [52,53], qualitative interview study (n = 1) [54]). Most of the articles reported information regarding these practices in dentists.…”

“…These studies were conducted in pediatric dentists and found that this activity was common in the population of interest (e.g., >90% of pediatric dentists who performed infant oral health evaluations reported this practice [36]; 70.6% of pediatric dentists reported doing a diet history review and analysis regarding dental caries prevention [44]). Several cross-sectional survey studies also reported self-reported information on frequency of providing some type of general/unspecific dietary assessment practice [33,38,39,42,[46][47][48]. Overall, these studies were conducted regarding these practices when assisting patients with specific dental conditions (e.g., root caries [39], erosive tooth wear [38,[46][47][48]) and in children [33,42] and adult [42] patient groups.…”

“…Several cross-sectional survey studies also reported self-reported information on frequency of providing some type of general/unspecific dietary assessment practice [33,38,39,42,[46][47][48]. Overall, these studies were conducted regarding these practices when assisting patients with specific dental conditions (e.g., root caries [39], erosive tooth wear [38,[46][47][48]) and in children [33,42] and adult [42] patient groups. In articles that focused on specific dental conditions, the percentage of respondents who self-reported always, often, and/or usually providing some type of general/unspecific dietary assessment practice ranged from 45% to 81%, and the percentage of respondents who never or seldom performed this practice ranged from 1% to 25% [38,39,[46][47][48].…”

“…Overall, these studies were conducted regarding these practices when assisting patients with specific dental conditions (e.g., root caries [39], erosive tooth wear [38,[46][47][48]) and in children [33,42] and adult [42] patient groups. In articles that focused on specific dental conditions, the percentage of respondents who self-reported always, often, and/or usually providing some type of general/unspecific dietary assessment practice ranged from 45% to 81%, and the percentage of respondents who never or seldom performed this practice ranged from 1% to 25% [38,39,[46][47][48]. In studies focusing on children and/or adults, the percentage of respondents who self-reported never performing this practice ranged from 2% to 6.4% [33,42].…”

“…The studies of Widström et al [42] and Kangasmaa et al [47] were the only studies that compared general/unspecific dietary assessment practices amongst different types of oral health professionals. Widström et al [42] found in their survey study that dental hygienists were significantly more likely to assess dietary habits in all or most of their patients vs. dentists in both children and adult patients.…”