Journal of Dental Research, Vol 69, 1765-1770, Copyright © 1990 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
Development of horizontal tooth wear in maxillary anterior teeth from five to 18 years of age
M. Nystrom, M. Kononen, S. Alaluusua, M. Evalahti and J. Vartiovaara
Department of Pedodontics and Orthodontics, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Sizes of horizontal wear facets of maxillary anterior teeth were studied
longitudinally from the primary dentition at age five to the young adult
dentition at the age of 18 years. By a planimetric method, we calculated
the wear areas on dental casts taken at the ages of five, ten, 14, and 18
years from the dentition of 39 healthy, orthodontically untreated subjects
with good morphological occlusion. For young adults, we also studied the
association between the amount of wear and reported parafunctions, maximal
bite force, salivary buffer capacity, salivary flow rate, and some
cephalometric variables. Size of wear facets on all anterior teeth
increased with age. Significant correlations were found between the total
wear areas of the six anterior primary teeth at five years of age and those
of their permanent successors at age 14 (r = 0.44) and 18 (r = 0.39). For
an individual, tooth wear at five years of age was, however, of low
predictive value for tooth wear in young adulthood, whereas tooth wear at
14 years of age predicted it well (r = 0.89). Highest correlations between
tooth wear and background factors at 18 years of age were found for maximal
anterior bite force (r = 0.44) and for the size of the gonial angle (r =
-0.31). Wear of anterior teeth was not associated with reported
parafunctions in young adulthood.
