Awareness and risk factors related to tooth-wear, Dar- es-salaam, Tanzania

Background: Since almost all of the causes of tooth wear are habitual, awareness of the public will help people to regulate themselves, change unwanted habits, and seek medical help early in case of need. Objective: To assess awareness and habits related to tooth wear among adult dental patients in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 316 randomly selected adult dental patients (18+ years) attending for treatment, August- November, 2009. Questionnaire assessed awareness on tooth wear of participants (21 questions - general awareness, its causes, outcome, and prevention), habits (7 questions - clenching, tooth grinding, chewing bones, unilateral chewing, vomiting, use of acidic beverages, and repeated heartburn) and tooth brushing (5 questions - type of tooth brush, frequency, force applied and adjuvant used). When any 11 of the 21 questions on awareness were correctly answered, participants were categorized as being aware. Dichotomous response of yes and no assessed habits related to tooth wear and participants were categorized as having a risk habit if response was a yes. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 13 and statistical level of significance was p < 0.05. Results: Of the 316 participants with mean age of 30.84±10.588, majority (60.1%) were females. Overall 39.9% of subjects were aware on tooth wear. Awareness on causes and outcome was 39.5% and 26.4% respectively while awareness on means of prevention of tooth wear was 56.6%. Risk habits related to tooth wear most frequently reported included unilateral chewing, chewing bones, and use of citrus fruits respectively. More females reported risk habits than males. About thirty percent of respondents used horizontal brushing movements and few (7.6%) reported use of excessive force during brushing. Conclusion: Awareness on tooth wear among participants was low. Risk habits frequently reported were chewing bones, unilateral chewing, and use of citrus fruits/juice respectively.