Tooth wear and bruxism: A scoping review

This study presents a scoping review to determine the association between tooth wear and bruxism.

A protocol was developed a priori (Open Science Framework (DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/CS7JX)). Established scoping review methods were used for screening, data extraction, and synthesis. Risk of bias was assessed using JBI tools. Direct associations between tooth wear and bruxism were assessed.

Embase, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Cochrane, and PubMed were searched.

Any clinical study containing tooth wear and bruxism assessment done on humans in any language was included. Animal, in-vitro studies and case reports were excluded.

Thirty publications reporting on the association between tooth wear and bruxism were included. The majority of publications were cross-sectional studies (90%) while only three were longitudinal (10%). Eleven papers assessed definitive bruxism for analysis (instrumental tools), one paper assessed probable bruxism (clinical inspection with self-report) and eighteen assessed possible bruxism (self-report). Of the eleven papers assessing definitive bruxism, eight also reported outcomes of non-instrumental tools. Tooth wear was mostly scored using indexes. Most studies reported no or weak associations between tooth wear and bruxism, except for the studies done on cervical tooth wear. When bruxism assessment was done through self-report, more often an association was found. Studies using multivariate analyses did not find an association between tooth wear and bruxism, except the cervical wear studies. Evidence shows inconclusive results as to whether bruxism and tooth wear are related or not. Therefore, well-designed longitudinal trials are needed to address this gap in the literature.

Based on the evidence, dental clinicians should not infer bruxism activity solely on the presence of tooth wear.