Toothwear Flashcards
Compare tooth surface loss and non-carious tooth surface loss.
Tooth surface loss- loss for any reason (caries/trauma/ developmental problems/toothwear)
Non carious tooth surface loss (loss due to trauma/developmental problems/toothwear)
What is physiological tooth wear?
Normal wear that is associated with normal function. (20-38um per year)
What is pathological toothwear?
When toothwear over the normal level expected for that patient’s age or when the toothwear is causing a mastigatory or aesthetic defect.
List the 4 main causes of toothwear?
Attrition
Abrasion
Abfraction
Erosion.
Discuss the increase in toothwear over the past 10 years.
It has shown an increase but the increase is not uniform.
50% of 5 year olds have toothwear of their primary incisors.
How do we assess a patient’s toothwear.
- Recognise the problem is present
- Grade it’s severity
- Diagnose the likely cause or casues.
- Monitor the disease progerssion
- Active or historic
- Are preventative measures working or is active restorative treatment required?
What are we looking for in the patient’s medical history that is relevant to toothwear?
- Medications
- Low pH/ causing dry mouth
- Medical conditions
- GORD
- Anaemia
- Alcoholism
- Hiatus hernia
- Pregnancy
- morning sickness
In our assessment of a toothwear patient. What are we looking for with their TMJ.
- Any clicking?
- Any crepitus?
- Any restriction of movement?
In our assessment of a toothwear patient. What are we looking for with their muscles of mastication?
- Hypertrophy.
In our assessment of a toothwear patient. What are we looking for with their mouth opening? .
Can they open their mouth >4cm
Is there any deviation during movement?
In our assessment of a toothwear patient. What are we looking for aesthetically?
Is there overclosure
Is their lip line lower?
Do they show any teeth when they smile (smile line)
In our assessment of a toothwear patient. What are we looking for in terms of their occlusion?
- Assessment of:
- Freeway space
- OVD and facial height
- Has there been any dento-alveolar compensation?
- Overbite and overjet
- Are there stable contacts in cetric relation
- What are tooth contacts like in excursive moments?
What is dento-alveolar compensation?
Dentoalveolar compensation is the compensation for the loss of tooth substance by dentoalveolar bone growth. The bone gets longer to prevent the incisal edge moving. This leaves no room for restorations.
In our assessment of a toothwear patient. What are we looking for in terms of their soft tissues?
Dryness
Buccal keratosis or lingual scalloping (bruxism)
How do we describe a patient’s toothwear:
- Location
- Localised
- Anterior/posteiror
- Generalised
- Toothwear with loss of OV (bigger freeway space)
- Toothwear without loss of OVD but space is available
- Toothwear without loss of OVD but limited space.
- Wear
- Enamel only
- Into dentine
- Severe
- Localised
Compare Smith and Knight & BEWE for classifying toothwear.
Smith and night: 0-4 for each tooth
BEWE- used like a BPE grading each sextant for toothwear 0-3
List some immediate problems presented by a patient with toothwear?
- Sensitivity
- TMJ
- Wear compromising pulpal health
- Nonfunctional tooth.
- Sharp edges.
What immediate treatment can be given for a patient in pain due to wear causing sensitivity?
Desensitising agents
Fluorides
Bonding agents
GIC coverage of exposed dentine.
What immediate treatment can be given for a toothwear patient in pain due to wear compromising their pulpal health.
Pulp extirpation.
What immediate treatment can be given for a toothwear patient in pain due to wear causing sharp edges.
Smooth the sharp edges to prevent trauma.
What immediate treatment can be given for a toothwear patient in pain due to wear causing an unrestorable/ non functional tooth.
Extraction.
What immediate treatment can be given for a toothwear patient in pain due to wear affecting their TMJ.
Control acute symptoms.
Discuss the initial treatment for a wear patient.
- Stabilise existing dentition (caries/perio/oral mucosal)
- Start a preventative regime
What is vital to do before we begin the preventative treatment?
Take a baseline reading of the wear so we can monitor and see if it progresses. Using
- Wear indices- smith and knight/BEWE
- Models
- Photos.
What are we looking for when monitoring toothwear?
Progression- if it is actively progressing- prevention before treatment
Historic- if not causing problems- treatment
Describe the type of toothwear shown in this image?
The phsyiological wearing away of tooth structure as a result of tooth to tooth contact.
Where is attrition commonly found?
On the occlusal surface and incisal contacting surfaces
List some of the clinical signs of attrition?
Facets on the cusps
Flattening of cusps and incisal surfaces
Loss of cuspal height
Shortening of incisors and canine teeth.
What is the main cause of attrition ?
Parafunction
Describe the preventative treatment of attrition?
Dealing with the cause of the parafunction
Usually due to stress so treat with CBT or hypnotherapy.
Splinting teeth- so that the teeth wear down the splint rather than the teeth.
Compare the different types of splints that can be used to treat attrition ?
Soft splint- used diagnostically to show the patient is grinding their teeth
Hard splint- more robust/ will last longer.
Michigan splint- provides an ideal occlusion in centric so teeth are biting together in the ideal occlusion. The canine guidance causes the other teeth to disclude in lateral and protrusive excursive movements. (To reduce wear on the other teeth)
Describe the type of toothwear shown in this image?
Abrasion
The physical wear of tooth substance involving a foreign object or substance repeatedly contacting the tooth.
What is the most common type of abrasion and how does it present ?
Toothbrush abrasion-
- Labial/buccal/ cervical on canines and premolar teeth
- V shaped and rounded lesions
- Sharp margin at enamel edge where the dentine is preferentially worn away.
Describe the preventative treatment for abrasion?
Remove the cause- e.g. altering toothbrushing habits/ changing toothpaste/ altering other habits
Describe the type of toothwear shown in this image.
Erosion- the loss of tooth surface by a chemical process that does not involve bacterial action.
Compare earlier and later stages of erosion.
Earlier stages- Enamel surface is affected, there is loss of surface detail causing surfaces to beome flat/smooth/shiny.
Later stages- typically bilateral, concave lesions without a chalky appearance round the edges of caries (bacterial acid decalcification)
Why does cupping happen once dentine is exposed?
Dentine has less mineral content so it wears more quickly than enamel. This causes the cupping of the occlusal surfaces of molars and the incisal edges of the anteriors.