Dental Wear Its Prevalence and Patterns in Class I Malocclusion (A Comparative Study)

Abstract

Dental wear is a physiological process that occurs normally through a variety of mechanisms and age progression. It is aloss of tooth structure during masticatory forces. The study aimed to investigate patterns of tooth wear in adult with class I malocclusion (crowding) then the normal occlusion is compared with them. Our study sample consisted of 2 groups with an age range “18-25” years.The 1rstgroupwas (30 subject) with normal occlusion and the 2nd was (30 subject) with class I crowding. A modified version of the tooth wear index (TWI) was used to assess the amount of tooth wear.Tooth wear was greater statistically in incisal surfaces of central incisors of the upper arch and lateral incisors of both arches in class I malocclusion group than was in group of normal occlusion. While significant tooth loss was found in the buccal surfaces of the lower 1rst molar and the incisal surfaces of upper canines in normal occlusion than it was in crowding group. It was concluded that the irregularity of the dentition in class I malocclusion subjects lead to the differences in the pattern of tooth wear in both the normal and malocclusion groups.