Ganss C, Young A, Lussi A
Department of Conservative and Preventive Dentistry, Dental Clinic of the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany.
Community Dent Health. 2011 Sep;28(3):191-5.
This paper addresses methodological issues in the field of tooth wear and erosion research including the epidemiological indices, and identifies future work that is needed to improve knowledge about tooth wear and erosion.
The paper is result of the work done at the meetings of the Special Interest Group "Tooth Surface Loss and Erosion" at the 2008, 2009 and 2010 conferences of the European Association for Dental Public Health, and the Workshop "Current Erosion indices- flawed or valid" which took place in Basel in 2007.
Although there is consensus about the definition and the diagnostic criteria of various forms of tooth wear, gaps in research strategies have been identified. A basic problem is that fundamental concepts of wear and erosion as an oral health problem, have not yet been sufficiently defined. To a certain extent, tooth wear is a physiological condition, and there is no consensus as to whether it can be regarded as a disease. Furthermore, the multitude of indices and flaws in existing indices, make published data difficult to interpret.
Topics for the research agenda are: the initiation of a consensus process towards an internationally accepted index, and the initiation of data collection on the prevalence of various forms of wear on a population-based level. There should be an emphasis on promoting communication between basic and clinical sciences, and the area of Public Health Dentistry. Furthermore, the question of whether tooth wear is a public health problem remains open for debate.
本文探讨牙齿磨损与侵蚀研究领域中的方法学问题，包括流行病学指数，并确定为增进对牙齿磨损与侵蚀的认识所需开展的未来工作。
本文是在2008年、2009年和2010年欧洲牙科公共卫生协会会议上“牙齿表面损耗与侵蚀”特别兴趣小组会议以及2007年在巴塞尔举行的“当前侵蚀指数——有缺陷还是有效”研讨会上所做工作的成果。
尽管对于各种形式牙齿磨损的定义和诊断标准已达成共识，但研究策略中仍存在差距。一个基本问题是，作为口腔健康问题的磨损和侵蚀的基本概念尚未得到充分界定。在一定程度上，牙齿磨损是一种生理状况，对于它是否可被视为一种疾病尚无共识。此外，现有指数繁多且存在缺陷，使得已发表的数据难以解读。
研究议程的主题包括：启动一个达成国际公认指数的共识进程，以及在基于人群的层面上启动关于各种形式磨损患病率的数据收集。应强调促进基础科学与临床科学以及公共卫生牙科学领域之间的交流。此外，牙齿磨损是否为公共卫生问题这一问题仍有待辩论。
