Dental wear is deterioration as a result of use. It has existed since the beginning of mankind in all civilizations and cultures. It occurred routinely and intensely in early populations but was considered to be a physiological process. Ideas about dental wear are not as clear today because while it is less pronounced it sometimes appears in pathological patterns. Moreover, it is produced by many complex mechanisms acting in synchrony or sequentially, in synergy or additive, in patterns that often mask its true origins. In an effort to ameliorate the means of preventing and diagnosing dental wear and improving our understanding of its diverse manifestations, the primary objective of this article will be to present the principal mechanisms that produce it as well as their consequences. To organize our presentation we have adopted a tribological approach, focusing on the friction, wear, and lubrication of interacting surfaces.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.