| Abstrakt: |
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the severity of tooth wear in a sample of Croatian navy employees and to evaluate oral signs and demographic factors related to it. Materials and Methods: The sample included 1092 navy employees aged 20 to 60 years (mean age 37.06±7.85), 985 men and 107 women. The tooth wear severity measurements were based on the relative degree of faceting (0-4 scale). The tooth wear score (the sum of all facets scores) and tooth wear index (average annual growth of sum of ratings corrected for the percent of missing teeth) were correlated to demographic data, masticatory muscles hypertrophy, masticatory muscles tension upon awakening, tooth mobility, linea alba, tongue indentations, traumatic ulcers, noncarious cervical lesions (NCCL), number of teeth and self-reported bruxism in order to determine the specific correlates of tooth wear. Results: The percentage of teeth with occlusal wear ranged from 21.66% in the youngest age group to 52.45% in the oldest age group. The tooth wear score was highest in 40-60-year-old subjects, and lowest in 20-30-year-old subjects. The stepwise multiple linear regression analysis showed that increased tooth wear was significantly associated with NCCL (β=0.55, p<0.001), tongue indentations (β=0.17, p<0.001), male gender (β=-0.105, p<0.001), muscle tension (β=0.103, p<0.05), and muscle hypertrophy (β=0.063, p<0.05). The R² of the model was 0.49. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that NCCL, tongue indentations, muscle tension, male gender and muscle hypertrophy are potential factors that may influence or predict tooth wear. There was no significant relationship or association between tooth wear index and linea alba, tooth mobility, traumatic ulcers and self report of bruxism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
