Awareness, knowledge and treatment decisions for erosive tooth wear: A case‐based questionnaire among Danish dentists

Abstract

Objective To examine the knowledge and experience of erosive tooth wear (ETW) among Danish dental practitioners and, based on two cases, explore their treatment decisions. Methods We sent a validated questionnaire electronically to all active members of The Danish Dental Association and The Association of Public Health Dentists in Denmark. The questionnaire had two parts; the first focused on scoring, recordkeeping, knowledge and experience of ETW. The second part presented two patients with different severity of erosive lesions to explore the dentists preventive and restorative treatment decisions. Results We received 442 answers from 4,490 potentially eligible dentists in Denmark (response rate 9.8%). The majority (78%) was female and the median age was 44 years. Nearly all respondents (97%) registered ETW in the charts and 49% recorded “always” or “often” the patients' diet history, most commonly with aid of interviews. The respondents perceived the prevalence of ETW to be higher today than 10–15 years ago and male patients (15–25 years) appeared more affected than females. The majority (82%) thought that they usually found the probable cause of the condition with carbonated beverages being the most common factor. The treatment included dietary guidance, soft tooth brushing with non‐abrasive fluoride toothpaste, topical fluoride applications and direct composite restorations. Conclusion The majority of Danish dentists taking part of this survey had adopted a minimally invasive approach for the management of erosive tooth wear in young adults. There was however room for improvements in diagnosis, scoring and case documentation.

Genetic Aspects of Dental Erosive Wear and Dental Caries

“…erefore, a minimal invasive conduct is the best option in most cases [23]. e treatment decisions of teeth affected by dental erosion among Nordic dentists have been evaluated [100][101][102]. Identifying, limiting, or eliminating the acid exposures are important aims for the dentist and the patient.…”

Nutrition Care Practices of Dietitians and Oral Health Professionals for Oral Health Conditions: A Scoping Review

“…Thirteen articles reported information on general/unspecific dietary assessment practices (e.g., dietary analysis, dietary history, assessment of dietary habits, asking about dietary behaviour, diet history review and analysis) of oral health professionals (cross-sectional survey studies (n = 10) [33,36,38,39,41,42,44,[46][47][48]; chart review studies (n = 2) [52,53], qualitative interview study (n = 1) [54]). Most of the articles reported information regarding these practices in dentists.…”

“…These studies were conducted in pediatric dentists and found that this activity was common in the population of interest (e.g., >90% of pediatric dentists who performed infant oral health evaluations reported this practice [36]; 70.6% of pediatric dentists reported doing a diet history review and analysis regarding dental caries prevention [44]). Several cross-sectional survey studies also reported self-reported information on frequency of providing some type of general/unspecific dietary assessment practice [33,38,39,42,[46][47][48]. Overall, these studies were conducted regarding these practices when assisting patients with specific dental conditions (e.g., root caries [39], erosive tooth wear [38,[46][47][48]) and in children [33,42] and adult [42] patient groups.…”

“…Several cross-sectional survey studies also reported self-reported information on frequency of providing some type of general/unspecific dietary assessment practice [33,38,39,42,[46][47][48]. Overall, these studies were conducted regarding these practices when assisting patients with specific dental conditions (e.g., root caries [39], erosive tooth wear [38,[46][47][48]) and in children [33,42] and adult [42] patient groups. In articles that focused on specific dental conditions, the percentage of respondents who self-reported always, often, and/or usually providing some type of general/unspecific dietary assessment practice ranged from 45% to 81%, and the percentage of respondents who never or seldom performed this practice ranged from 1% to 25% [38,39,[46][47][48].…”

“…Overall, these studies were conducted regarding these practices when assisting patients with specific dental conditions (e.g., root caries [39], erosive tooth wear [38,[46][47][48]) and in children [33,42] and adult [42] patient groups. In articles that focused on specific dental conditions, the percentage of respondents who self-reported always, often, and/or usually providing some type of general/unspecific dietary assessment practice ranged from 45% to 81%, and the percentage of respondents who never or seldom performed this practice ranged from 1% to 25% [38,39,[46][47][48]. In studies focusing on children and/or adults, the percentage of respondents who self-reported never performing this practice ranged from 2% to 6.4% [33,42].…”