An exploratory case-control study of non-carious cervical lesions was undertaken to examine the effects of a variety of risk factors. Candidate exposure variables were related to erosion, abrasion, and tooth flexure, the three principal putative causal mechanisms for cervical lesions. Because previous studies have tended to focus on specific causal mechanisms, evidence for a multifactorial etiology is inconclusive. Data describing exposure factors were obtained through clinical examination, dietary and behavioral questionnaires, and analysis of study casts from 264 subjects (137 cases, 127 control). Salivary data were also obtained for a subset of these subjects. Patient and tooth-level logistic regression models were constructed for the full subject group, and the subset with salivary data. For the two patient-level models, only exposures related to brushing entered. For tooth-level models, multiple exposures representing all three causal mechanisms were included in both models. The results suggest that non-carious cervical lesions do have a multifactorial etiology, and that multiple causal mechanisms may operate in the initiation and progression of individual lesions.

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