Prevalência e fatores associados ao desgaste erosivo dental em crianças e adolescentes com dentição permanente e mista: resultados de revisões sistemáticas e de um estudo transversal

Abstract

Special interest has been related to the presence of dental erosion in children and adolescents, especially by the diet change occurred over the past decades. To approach this issue, systematic reviews were conducted and an epidemiological study investigating the prevalence and factors associated with the erosive wear occurrence in children with permanent teeth. In the first article a systematic review was performed to estimate the worldwide prevalence of dental erosion in children with permanent dentition, being observed the estimated prevalence of 30.4% and high heterogeneity between studies. Meta-regression ascertain that the tooth wear index, studies performed in the Middle East and Africa and studies with more than 1,000 individuals were associated with higher rates of prevalence. In the second study the literature was accessed and analysed systematically to test the influence of diet in the prevalence of dental erosion of children and adolescents. It was detected that the high consumption of soft drinks (p = 0.001), acidic sweets or snacks (p =0.01) and fruit juices (p = 0.03) increased the chances for dental erosion occurrence, while the consumption of milk (p = 0.028) and yogurt (p = 0.002) reduced it. For items 3, 4 and 5 a cross-sectional epidemiological study was performed in schoolchildren aged 8 to 12 years in the city of Pelotas, to establish the prevalence of erosive lesions and their possible association with socio-demographic, behavioural and biological factors. Additionally, we tested if the occurrence of erosion could be associated with the prevalence of overweight / obesity and caries. The field work was carried out by a trained and calibrated team and the data was collected by questionnaires and clinical examinations. Dental erosion was evaluated in the maxillary incisors using the O'Sullivan index adapted by Peres. The occurrence of dental caries was assessed using the DMFT index (WHO). Anthropometric assessment was conducted to determine the Body Mass Index (BMI) and also information about physical activity was collected . The prevalence of erosion and overweight / obesity in the sample was 25.0% and 34.6% respectively. In the adjusted analysis it was observed higher prevalence of erosion in older children attending public schools, while dental crowding was considered a protective factor. Only in the stratified analysis by type of school, was verified that children from private schools showed a positive association between erosion and obesity. The prevalence of caries in the sample was 32.4%, not presenting association between caries and erosion, or consumption of acidic drinks or fruit. Finally , it was observed high global prevalence of erosion, which was associated with the consumption of different acidic foods, while in the southern of Brazil, the prevalence was high and associated with age, type of school and crowding, and not associated with the occurrence of obesity at the general level or with the presence of dental caries.