What is Dental Erosion?
Dental erosion is the irreversible loss of outer dental hard tissue (Enamel) by a chemical process that is not caused by bacteria. In the United Kingdom, the oral health care providers consider dental erosion as a public health problem. This was evident in 1993 when England included the evaluation of tooth erosion in its national dental health survey. It was found that approximately 10-20% of the adult population has some degree of dental erosion. However, it is an advancing dental health concern among the children. A recently concluded study done in the United States of America from 2004 to 2005 involving 900 middle school students age of 10 to 14 years of age discovered a 30 percent prevalence rate of dental erosion. This is an important study because it confirms the suspicions of the high prevalence of dental erosion in the developed countries.
Researchers cited high consumption of acidic beverages as the major cause for dental erosion among the children. Generally, the causes of dental erosion can be divided into two sources: the extrinsic sources and the intrinsic sources.
The sources for extrinsic acids are: foods, medications or environmental acids. The most common of these are dietary acids that are in carbonated drinks, sports drinks and fruit juices. Acidic fruits such as apple, orange and other citric fruits are the next common items.
The source for intrinsic acids is inside the body. Gastric acids are the main cause for dental erosion. The commonest cause for the gastric acids to come into the mouth is through regurgitation of gastric content. Gastric acids, with pH levels that can be less than 1, is highly corrosive to the enamel of the teeth upon reaching the oral cavity. The common medical conditions where gastric acids come in contact with the teeth are: gastro-oesophageal reflux and excessive vomiting related to eating disorders. The classic example of eating disorder is called anorexia nervosa or bulimia.
In order to manage dental erosion better, we must know the risk factors for dental erosion. Below are some known risk factors to avoid:
1. Taking citrus fruits more than twice daily.
2. Athletes consume sport drinks more than once a week.
3. Consuming soft drinks more than 4 times a week.
4. Frequent drinking apple vinegar.
5. Eating disorder like excessive intake of food with frequent induced vomiting.
6. Infrequent of drinking plain water for patients with history of dry mouth.As dental erosion is often missed in its early stages early recognition and initiation of preventive measures by dentists can prevent significant damage to the dentition Delay treatment may result in unnecessary need for complex and expensive restorative care. . Hence dental erosion warrants the careful attention of the Central London primary dental care team with well-illustrated dental health programme.