Dental erosive wear and salivary flow rate in physically active

Objective: To study prevalence of erosive wear and salivary flow rate before and after exercise in physically active. Methods: Young adults (age range 18-32 years) and members of a fitness-centre were invited to participate in the study. Inclusion criteria were healthy adults training hard at least twice a week. One-hundred and four participants accepted an intraoral examination. Of those 70 also agreed to carry out saliva sampling. The examination was performed at the fitness-centre by a previously calibrated clinician, using an evaluated erosive wear system (VEDE). Saliva sampling (unstimulated and stimulated) was performed before and after exercise. Occlusal surfaces of the first molars in both jaws and the labial and palatal surfaces of the upper incisors and canines were selected as index teeth. Results: Dental erosive wear was registered in 64% of the participants, 58% in females and 78% in males. Enamel lesions dominated and were most often observed in the upper front, dentin lesions dominated in lower first molar. One fourth of the participants had erosive wear into dentin, significantly more in males than in females (p=0.047). One third (34%) of the participants had stimulated salivary flow rate in the lower range (<0.1ml/min), and significantly more erosive lesions were registered than in subjects with higher flow rate (p=0.002). Significantly more participants with erosive wear had a decrease rather than increase in salivary flow rate during exercise compared with the non-erosion group (p=0.001). Unstimulated salivary flow rate was not affected by exercise. Conclusion: A high proportion of physically active young adults had erosive wear. Stimulated salivary flow rate was influenced by hard exercise.