THE PREVALENCE OF TOOTH WEAR IN A CLUSTER SAMPLE OF ADOLESCENT SCHOOLCHILDREN AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH POTENTIAL EXPLANATORY FACTORS

Objective To assess the prevalence of tooth wear in adolescents and it s relationship with diet, saliva and gastro-oesophageal reflux. Design Single centre cluster sample epidemiological study. Setting A school in London in the summer of 1996. Subjects 11-14-year-old schoolchildre n. Main outcome measures The Smith and Knight tooth wear index (TWI), salivary factors, diet and symptoms of gastrooesophageal reflux were r ecorded for all subjects. Results Results were obtained from 210 subje cts. One subject refused to provide a saliva sample and 11 subjects pr ovided insufficient saliva for analysis of buffering power (n = 198). 57% (95% confidence intervals 50.3-63.7%) of subjects had tooth wear o n more than ten teeth and a median 12% (interquartile range 6-18%, 95% confidence intervals 8-14%) of surfaces were affected. However, denti ne involvement was rare. The median intake of carbonated drinks was 2 cans (interquartile range 1-3) a day. However, there was no correlatio n with TWI (r = -0.09, P = 0.19). There was no relationship between to oth wear index (TWI) and salivary flow rate (r = -0.02, P = 0.78) or b uffering capacity (r = -0.02, P = 0.76). A trend was observed for thos e with a reported history of regurgitation (n = 27) to have a higher m axillary TWI (median 8, interquartile range 2-13) compared with those who did not (5, 2-9, P = 0.06). Conclusions Tooth wear is common in ad olescents and the relationship with dietary acid, salivary buffering a nd symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux is complex and requires furth er investigation.