Abstract
Introduction
Dental erosion is the irreversible loss of dental tissue, without bacterial involvement, whose increased prevalence in recent years has been alarming.
Objective
To determine the prevalence of dental erosion, as well as associated factors, in school children from 06 to 13 years of age, in the city of Campina Grande, PB.
Material and method
Selection of schools was performed by simple random sampling without replacement. After signing the Informed Consent Term and Assent Term, the examinations were performed by a previously calibrated examiner, with the child sitting in a school chair in front of the examiner in natural light. To determine the presence and degree of dental erosion, the BEWE index was used. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows, version 18.0, SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA) and a significance level of 5% was used.
Result
The prevalence of dental erosion in the evaluated population was 78.2%. It was not possible to associate the presence of lesions with socioeconomic and dietary factors. Only the variable Topical Application of Fluoride (TFA) presented a statistically significant relation (p = 0.012).
Conclusion
The high prevalence of dental erosion in the evaluated population demonstrates the need to implement preventive and preventive measures in the short and long term.
Descriptors:
Dental erosion; epidemiology; children