Levartovsky S, Matalon S, Sarig R, Baruch O, Winocur E. The association between dental wear and reduced vertical dimension of the face: a morphologic study on human skulls.
Arch Oral Biol 2014;
60:174-80. [PMID:
25455132 DOI:
10.1016/j.archoralbio.2014.09.016]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2014] [Revised: 07/20/2014] [Accepted: 09/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between dental wear and facial morphology, with particular reference to the occlusal vertical dimension, in modern human skulls.
DESIGN
One hundred and three skulls (52 men and 51 women) between the ages of 20 and 50+ years old were studied. The selected skulls were from a modern period (the 17th and the 18th centuries) and included at least one entire condyle and had at least 3 posterior teeth (premolar or molar) in each quadrant to allow for dental articulation. Occlusal wear was evaluated using ordinal scale (0-4) and vertical occlusal dimension was evaluated by measuring upper facial height (UFH), lower facial height (LFH), LFH-to-UFH ratio (L-U-R) and dental wear. Based on the occlusal wear score, two groups were defined: with and without significant wear.
RESULTS
Significant relation was observed between age and dental wear (P<0.01). No significant differences were found in the LFH (P=0.847) or UFH (P=0.108) between the two wear groups. In addition, no significant difference (P=0.132) was demonstrated in the LFH-to-UFH ratio between the groups. No difference was observed in the dental wear score between genders (P=0.321).
CONCLUSION
Within its limitations, this study demonstrated that dental wear does not influence the vertical dimension of occlusion. Our assumption is that the dento-facial complex fully compensates for the dental effects of wear throughout life.
Collapse