Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Clinical
  • Published:

Diagnosis and monitoring of tooth wear

BDJ Student volume 28, pages 50–52 (2021)Cite this article

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

By Mariam Naseem

Tooth wear can be described as 'the pathological non-carious loss of tooth tissue' and is a normal physiological process that occurs throughout life. Tooth surface loss (TSL) becomes pathological if it concerns patient or if the rate of tooth wear is higher than expected for the patient's age.1 Tooth wear is often multi-factorial and can be subdivided into attrition, abrasion, erosion and in some cases abfraction. There is often debate whether abfraction is accepted as a form of tooth wear, however, the British Society of Restorative Dentistry accepts it as a form of tooth wear.1 In this article I will explore how to diagnose TSL and the various ways of monitoring wear.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

References

  1. Bartlett D. Retrospective long term monitoring of tooth wear using study models. Br Dent J 2003; 194: 211-213.

  2. Dixon B, Sharif M, Ahmed F, Smith A, Seymour D, Brunton P. Evaluation of the basic erosive wear examination (BEWE) for use in general dental practice. Br Dent J 2012; 213: 1-4.

  3. Hemmings K, Truman A, Shah S, Chauhan R. Tooth wear guidelines for the BSRD part 1: aetiology, diagnosis and prevention. Dent Update 2018; 45: 483-495.

  4. Kontaxopoulou I, Alam S. Risk Assessment for Tooth Wear. Prim Dent J 2015; 4: 25-29.

  5. López-Frías F, Castellanos-Cosano L, Martín-González J, Llamas-Carre- ras J, Segura-Egea J. Clinical measurement of tooth wear: Tooth Wear Indices. J Clin Exp Dent 2012; 4: 48-53.

  6. Marro F, De Lat L, Martens L, Jacquet W, Bottenberg P. Monitoring the progression of erosive tooth wear (ETW) using BEWE index in casts and their 3D images: A retrospective longitudinal study. J Dent 2018; 73: 70-75.

  7. British Society of Restorative Dentistry. Tooth Wear Guidelines for the BSRD. Available online at: www.bsrd.org.uk/guidelines/BSRD-Tooth-Wear-booklet.pdf (Accessed July 2019).

  8. Vailati F and Belser U. Classification and treatment of the anterior maxillary dentition affected by dental erosion: the ACE classification. Int J Periodontics Restorative Dent 2010; 30: 559-570.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Glodwick primary care centre, Oldham, UK

    Mariam Naseem

Authors
  1. Mariam Naseem
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mariam Naseem.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Naseem, M. Diagnosis and monitoring of tooth wear. BDJ Student 28, 50–52 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41406-021-0233-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41406-021-0233-3

Search

Advanced search

Quick links