Association Between Cervical Abrasion, Oral Hygiene Practices and Buccolingual Dimension of Tooth Surfaces: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Cervical abrasion is a multifactorial process due to the use of abrasive dentifrices along with improper brushing patterns. An extensive lesion may cause loss of structural integrity of tooth and esthetically unacceptable. The purpose of the study was to assess the prevalence of cervical abrasion with age, gender, and oral hygiene practices among workers in a spinning mill, Kerala. The study also aimed to identify the buccolingual measurements of each abraded tooth using the Community Abrasion Index of Treatment Needs (CAITN) probe. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study where 366 subjects (257 males and 109 females) above 20 years of age were selected using a random sampling technique. Data was collected from the assessment form comprising demographic data and oral hygiene practices of the subjects. Clinical examination for abrasion and buccolingual measurements of abraded tooth recorded using CAITN probe. The statistical analysis was done using SPSS 26.0. for calculating descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, and binary logistic regression. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of abrasion was 37.2% and 97.7% of subjects with abrasion had sensitive teeth and were statistically significant. Age, gender (males) and combined horizontal and vertical method of brushing technique were strongly associated with the cervical lesion (P < 0.001). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that age group, gender, combined horizontal and vertical method of brushing, and presence of sensitive tooth was associated with the abrasion. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that the severity of the abrasion is an age-related phenomenon associated with combined horizontal and vertical strokes of brushing and is common among the male population. Dentinal hypersensitivity is also more prevalent with cervical abrasion. The novel CAITN probe can be used as an effective tool to assess the cervical abrasion and its treatment needs.