A clinical index for evaluating and monitoring dental erosion

This study describes a new fine-scaled system for classifying initial and advanced dental erosions. The system includes the use of study casts of the teeth in an epoxy resin with an accurate surface reproduction. The severity of erosion on each tooth surface is scored according to six grades of severity. In addition, the presence of a Class V restoration and dental erosion on the same surface increases the erosion score, as it is assumed that the need for restorative treatment can be caused by the erosion. A high inter-examiner agreement was found when the present scoring system was used by two examiners on the same sample. With this prerequisite it is proposed that an index value for facial, oral, incisal/occlusal and cervical surfaces is calculated as the mean value of scores for the respective surfaces. The index values represent the severity of tooth substance loss in various locations of the oral cavity and are furthermore suitable for data analysis. The system is thereby well-suited for determining etiologic factors and monitoring the progression of erosion over time.