Investigating Erosive Toothwear Risk Assessment in Undergraduate Care-Planning Clinic

Objectives: In the UK, a working group calls for the use of Basic Erosive Tooth Wear (BEWE), an internationally accepted and validated index, to quickly screen for erosive tooth wear. This tool may help clinicians perform a tooth wear risk assessment as part of their oral health assessment, to allow clinicians to manage their patients accordingly. In this study, we aimed to investigate the adoption of BEWE tool to help students conduct tooth wear risk assessment, and its impact on care-plan delivery.
Methods: Institutional approval (KCL/GSTT) was granted to investigate the use of basic erosive wear examination (BEWE) to risk assess patients by undergraduates on new patient clinic over four weeks. A pilot data collection sheet was tested and finalised. Clinical notes from the electronic patient records (SALUD) were assessed. Only new patient notes that had been authorised by a staff member were included (n=93). Evidence of tooth wear charting, use of BEWE and tooth wear risk assessment were noted using a binary scoring system.
Results: From the 93 clinical records included, the mean patient age in this study is 51.91. None of the records demonstrated the use of BEWE (0%). 44 (47.3%) students charted tooth wear. However, only 15 (16.1%) conducted a tooth wear risk assessment for their patients.
Conclusions: Currently, the majority of students are not conducting tooth wear risk assessment as part of their oral health assessment. This study highlighted an educational need to improve awareness on tooth wear risk assessment amongst students and staff members. Further work should aim to evaluate if students are more likely to record BEWE and perform tooth wear risk assessment if they receive prompt on SALUD.