Year : 2018

Volume : Volume 9

Issue : Issue 2

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Santhosh Vallabdas.
ravip552@gmail.com

Abstract

Aim: To assess the distribution and severity of tooth wear among adult population of Rangareddy district of Telangana, India.  Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted by trained and calibrated examiner. A stratified random sample of 1611 individuals with the age of 35-44 years were examined for tooth wear using Smith and Knight tooth wear index (1984). Descriptive statistics were applied to the data.  Results:  Prevalence of tooth wear amounted to 70.62%. The highest frequency of score 1 was found for mandibular right 1st molar (41.6%) and score 2 for maxillary left central incisor (20.8%),  score 3 for mandibular left 1st molar (6.3%) and score 4 for mandibular left 2nd premolar (7.3%). Occlusal surfaces were most commonly affected with tooth wear when compared to buccal, lingual and cervical surfaces. It also shows that occlusal surfaces of maxillary and mandibular anterior teeth were more commonly affected than the posterior teeth. No tooth wear on the lingual surfaces of posterior teeth of both the arches.  Conclusion: Tooth wear remains a common finding in study population. Furthermore, the question of whether tooth wear is a public health problem remains open for debate.

Keywords: Tooth wear, tooth wear index, prevalence, management of tooth wear.