Prevalence of dental erosion and association with lifestyle factors in Swedish 20-year olds

Abstract

Objective. To investigate the prevalence, distribution and severity of dental erosion and its association with lifestyle, oral and general health in young adults. Materials and methods. Four hundred and ninety-four individuals, 20-years of age, participated. Dental erosion in molars and maxillary incisors was evaluated. Caries, plaque and gingivitis were registered. Saliva samples were taken and the subjects were interviewed about behavioural and dietary habits and oral and general health. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. The individuals were sub-divided into two groups according to the presence and absence of dental erosion: within the group with erosion was a sub-group of individuals with extensive erosion. Results. Of the individuals 25% had no erosion, 75% had erosion and 18% had extensive erosion. Erosion was found in molars in 74% of the individuals and on buccal and palatal surfaces in maxillary incisors in 4% and 7%, respectively. Cupping was seen in 65% of individuals and severe erosion in molars in 1.6%. Compared to subjects with no erosion, those with extensive erosion had a higher consumption of soft drinks (p = 0.05), caries prevalence (p < 0.01), prevalence of mutans Streptococci (p < 0.01) and BMI (p < 0.05). Furthermore, subjects with erosion had higher caries prevalence (p < 0.01) and BMI (p < 0.01) than those with no erosion. Conclusions. Swedish young adults have a high prevalence of dental erosion, but the level of severe erosion is low. The study disclosed a relationship between dental erosion and behavioural factors, oral health and BMI.

Key Words::

• body mass index
• caries
• dental erosion
• oral health
• young adults

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by grants from the Swedish Dental Association, Futurum–The Academy for Healthcare, County Council, Jönköping, the Swedish Patent Revenue Fund for Dental Prophylaxis and the Swedish Dental Society. We thank Joan Bevenius-Carrick for linguistic revision of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.