Clinical monitoring of tooth wear progression in patients over a period of one year using CAD/CAM

Objective: To clinically monitor the progression of tooth wear over a period of one year in a cohort of referred tooth wear patients through the use of a CAD/CAD scanner and a standardised scanning/ assessment methodology.
Methods: Polyether impressions were made of 11 participants (130 teeth) at baseline and one year. Impressions were poured in Type IV dental stone and anterior teeth 3D scanned. A surface matching software was used to compare one-year to baseline scans and identify any dimensional differences. Results: Parafunctional habits were reported by all patients. All participants exhibited tooth wear ≥140µm in depth, and extending to ≥280µm in at least one tooth. Upper central incisors were the most commonly and severely tooth wear affected teeth. Conclusion: The ability of the developed CAD/CAM scanning methodology in clinical monitoring of tooth wear was demonstrated. Further research is needed to assess its practicality in large-scale epidemiological tooth wear studies.