[Tooth erosion - a multidisciplinary approach].

During the last decades, an increasingly greater interest in dental erosion has been observed in clinical dental practice, in dental public health and in dental research because prevalence of erosive tooth wear is still increasing especially in young age group of population. Erosive tooth wear is a multifactorial etiology process characterized by progressive loss of hard dental tissue. It is defined as the exogenous and/or endogenous acids dissolution of the dental tissue, without bacterial involvement. In the development of dental erosive wear, interactions are required which include chemical, biological, behavioral, diet, time, socioeconomic, knowledge, education, and general health factors. Examples of risk groups could be patients with eating disorders, like anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, gastroesophageal reflux disease, chronic alcohol abuse or dependence. Special nutrition habits groups with high consumption of soft or sport drinks, special diets like vegetarian, vegan or raw food diet, the regular intake of drugs, medications and food supplements can also increase the risk for dental erosion. Comprehensive knowledge of the different risk and protective factors is a perquisite for initiating adequate preventive measures.