Longitudinal study of incisal tooth wear in children and adolescents.

This report was derived from a longitudinal study of the development and progress of incisal tooth wear in children and adolescents. The study group was established in 1991/1992 and consisted of 79 participants between 8 and 15 yr. They were reexamined in 1993 and the time span between the first and second examination was 12-14 months. Assessment of incisal wear was made on stone casts based on silicone impression material according to the Incisal wear Index (IwI). The index used was shown to have good reproducibility. The results showed that the pattern of incisal wear had been maintained during the observation period. Prevalence and severity of incisal wear had increased significantly with age. The strength of the suggested linear relationship between age and incisal wear decreased during the observation period. At the same time the growth increments of wear, delta IwI, were negatively correlated with age, indicating that the progression of incisal wear slowed down with increasing age. Description of the true relationship between age and incisal wear outside the age range represented in the sample must await the results of forthcoming studies.