Abstract

Previous research has suggested that a relationship exists between craniofacial morphology and tooth wear. Theprimary objective of this study was to determine whether an individual's craniofacial morphology during childhood is relatedto the degree of tooth wear that occurs in that same individual's adult dentition. Pretreatment orthodontic records taken duringthe mixed dentition (T₁) and follow-up records takenan average of 20years later (T₂) were available for 165 orthodontic patients.Incisal/occlusal tooth wear was measured on a tooth-by-tooth basis from T₁ and T₂ casts using a four-category scoring system.Measures of craniofacial morphology were made from the T₁ lateral cephalometric radiograph. Multiple regression analysisindicated that adult wear was associated with the T₁ cephalometric measures of ANB ( p = 0.017) and the interaction betweenramal height and sex ( p = 0.039). These results suggest that the craniofacial morphology observed during childhood has a smallbut significant relationship to adult tooth wear.