Abnormal wear patterns in different types of malocclusions

Abstract

Relevance. Abnormal tooth wear is a disease characterized by excessive loss of hard tissues of the erupted teeth, unrelated to the physiological process. This disease prevalence appears to have increased in recent decades. The literature often indicates malocclusion as the cause of abnormal tooth wear, though it rarely notes the impact of abnormality type on individual teeth.Purpose. The study aimed to establish the relationship between the abnormality type and the degree and nature of abnormal tooth wear in children at different stages of dentition development.Materials and methods. The study analyzed the examination results of 266 patients aged 8 to 18 years without a history of previous orthodontic treatment. The orthodontic diagnosis was made based on the ICD-10. The patients formed the groups according to the stage of dentition development. The tooth wear index (TWI) (only permanent teeth) evaluated the abnormal tooth wear. The maximum TWI score determined the grade of abnormal tooth wear. The study statistically analyzed the data by StatTech v. 2.5.6, compared the data using the Kruskal – Wallis test (ANOVA) and Pearson chi-square, and made post hoc comparisons using Dunn’s test with Holm adjustment. The prognostic model was developed using the linear regression method.Results. The children and adolescents showed a sufficiently high prevalence of abnormal tooth wear (69.2% had at least one tooth with a tooth wear facet), tooth-wear grade increased with age (correlation coefficient rxy = 0.674, p < 0.001). The risk of abnormal tooth wear in distal and deep occlusion appeared to increase at incisors and canines (p < 0.001), in mesial occlusion - molars and premolars, in open bite – molars (p < 0.001). The combination of distal and deep occlusion led to severe abnormal tooth wear.Conclusion. The study results showed that wear patterns differ in various types of malocclusions. The received data will help to develop effective measures to prevent abnormal tooth wear.