Prevalence of erosive tooth wear in Chilean adults, 2016: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: To determine the prevalence, severity and distribution of erosive tooth wear lesions in adult patients at the Universidad de los Andes Health Center in the San Bernardo Metropolitan Region, Chile, during a period of 4 months in 2016. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A consecutive sample of patients from 18 to 46 years old who were receiving care at the Universidad de los Andes Health Center during a period from September 2016 to January 2017 was analysed. Basic erosive wear examinations (BEWEs) were performed by two calibrated examiners. Results: A total of 535 adults were included in this study. An erosive tooth wear prevalence of 97.9% was found in which at least one surface had a BEWE score of 2 or 3 as the highest score (98.56% for females and 95.8% for males). In the sample, 75.70% and 74.77% of individuals had at least one surface with a BEWE score of 3 at the second and fifth sextant, respectively. The median of cumulative BEWE scores was 12. The median by individual of the affected percentage of tooth surfaces with BEWE scores 2 or 3 was 19.70%. Conclusions: We found a high prevalence of erosive tooth wear, mainly in the anterior group of teeth. No differences were found between the sexes, but a positive correlation with age was found. The percentage of surfaces affected was low or moderate.