Correlation between Bruxism and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder and Their Effects on Tooth Wear. A Systematic Review

Abstract

Bruxism and gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) can lead to wear of the dental tissues. Wear has a mechanical or chemical origin, and it is of extrinsic or intrinsic type. Bruxism and GERD are two etiological factors of dental wear. The intrinsic mechanical wear (abfraction) of Bruxism and intrinsic chemical wear (erosion) of GERD are both involved in sleep disorders; indeed, they could have associations and act in synergy in dental wear. The purpose of this review was to find out the possible associations between bruxism and GERD and their effects on tooth wear. The research was conducted on PubMed and the Cochrane Library using the following Keywords/Mesh Terms: Tooth wear, Bruxism, Sleep Bruxism, Sleep Disorders, or GERD. Only systematic reviews and clinical studies performed exclusively on human subjects were included in the review. Initially, the research gave more than 630 results on dental wear, bruxism and GERD and after application of the inclusion criteria irrelevant studies were excluded, and 5 studies were finally included in this review. It was possible to observe the presence of some associations between the two problems (reflux and GERD) and hypothesize negative effects on tooth wear. This research revealed the presence of an interconnection between these three problems (reflux, GERD and tooth wear) that can further act in synergy by attacking the hard dental tissues both from a chemical (reflux) and mechanical (bruxism) point of view. The dentist could play a role of “sentinel” in a multidisciplinary team, intercepting these problems early in order to treat them in the most appropriate way. PROSPERO Registration Number: CRD42021234209.

Risk factors of tooth wear in permanent dentition: A scoping review

“…Bruxism and TMD concerned 23.4% of included studies in this review 23,24,26,29–33,40,49,53,60,62,64,67,70,79,81,90,92,101,104,105,117,121,125,130,134,143,147,151,168,170,171,173,174,185,192,193,215,225,239,243,251,263,267,276,280,284–288 . Bruxism and tooth grinding/clenching were the most studied factors in this category (52 out of 64 studies) and showed a significant association with TW in 18 studies (34.6% of studies).…”

“…Medical history was the second most frequently studied factor (67% of included studies; n = 183), 2,3,5,22–24,26–35,38,40,42–44,47,49–51,53,56–58,60–64,68–70,74,75,77,78,80,81,83,85,87,90–92,94–96,98,101,102,104–108,110,111,113,114,119–130,132,136–138,140–144,147,148,151,153–157,159,161,162,166,167,169,172,173,176–178, 180,181,185,188–190,194,196,197,199–256 and 27 studies were exclusively dedicated to this topic. The influence of the presence of GORD, stomach upset or heartburn was the most studied factor from this category, with 35.2% of studies included in this scoping review (96 out of 273).…”

Chewing performance of patients with worn dentition before and after restorations: A scoping review

“…In addition to this we have to consider the impact on tooth wear of the growing consumption of acidic beverages and food, and of the increase in both prevalence and incidence of the gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) 56–59 . The latter was found to have a combined effect on tooth wear together with bruxism 60–63 …”

“…[56][57][58][59] The latter was found to have a combined effect on tooth wear together with bruxism. [60][61][62][63] Several indexes have been proposed to accurately evaluate tooth wear, [64][65][66] with the recent tooth wear evaluation system (TWES) and its update 67 being a nice attempt to recap the potential quantitative and qualitative assessment strategies. 29,65,66 The discrimination between physiological and pathological tooth wear implies a comprehension of the phenomenon of ageing and natural evolution of tooth wear.…”

Relationships between tooth wear, bruxism and temporomandibular disorders

“…GORD may be associated with more severe tooth surface loss in patients with bruxism. 27 When a reflux event precedes bruxism activity in the same patient, then tooth wear can be accelerated due to the action of acid on the tooth surfaces.…”