As we get older, its inevitable that our teeth will wear away a bit. We live for a long time and teeth work hard biting and chewing and coming in contact with each other every day. Sometimes though, this process can be accelerated, the main culprits being clenching or grinding teeth, biting nails and using teeth for things we shouldn’t be like opening packets etc. Through this process the edges of your teeth will flatten and your teeth will start to look smaller which doesn’t look great and like tooth recession can cause sensitivity as dentine is exposed. This is essentially what attrition is usually the front teeth at the top and bottom of your mouth, wearing away over time or in some cases before their time, I have seen a couple of pretty extreme cases of this of patients and friends in their early 20s.

The cause of attrition for some patients can be hard to put our finger on, and is definitely not the same for everybody but it usually is one or more than likely combination of a few factors. Some of these things we can control, some of these things we can’t where we can’t. Some of my Bruxers (Bruxism - the process where we clench or grind our teeth together) will usually benefit from a bite guard in addition to changing a few things in their lifestyle, but more on this later. That being said, the usual culprits are:

Stress - oooooo this is a big one! Unfortunately we are all dealing with more and more stress every day. Try to keep you life as stress free as possible, easier said than done, but incorporating mindfulness or perhaps some yoga into your routine can really help - Namaste.

Poor Sleep Quality - we all can be guilty of this from time to time, sometimes it can’t be helped especially for those who work shifts but making sure you are sleeping in a really dark room, trying not to fall asleep with the TV on and if you wake up during the night trying not to check your phone can really help. Sleeping masks or blackout curtains are saviours so go on, treat yourself.

Eating too much sugar - we should only really be having 30g max of sugar/day, which is just over the size of a Cadbury Dairy Milk bar so super easy to overindulge and go way over your recommended sugar intake (don’t even get me started on hidden sugars). When we eat too much sugar you body tries to get rid of this excess energy so clenching or grinding of the teeth increases and so to then does the chance of tooth wear.

Having too much caffeine - I would say its probably a good idea to have your last cup of coffee at about 3pm because like sugar, your body wants to get rid of this excess energy by clenching or grinding. Energy drinks are the worst for this because they usually contain caffeine AND sugar, a double whammy so I would avoid these like the plague.

Smoking - the best thing for your gum health, general health and risk for oral cancer is not to smoke. Nicotine will also cause you to clench or grind your teeth together. The NHS website smoke free has some excellent advice if you’re thinking of stopping smoking which I will link here.

Drinking alcohol - If you like a glass of wine or two at the weekend you might notice you clench or grind your teeth together a bit more often again because your body is trying to get rid of excess energy. A little bit of what you fancy does you good but remember no more than 14 units of alcohol over the course of the week, for a few reminders about alcohol guidelines and gum health you can check out my previous blog here.

Some medications - always take any medications as prescribed by your Doctor, some, like antidepressant medication, can cause you to clench or grind your teeth together. We’ll pick our battles, health is the primary concern and we’ll deal with the repercussions of medications as we need to. Bite guards as we mentioned above are really useful in this case and trying to apply all of the other guidance above helps too.

Recreational drugs - any drug use will increase the risk of clenching or grinding your teeth. Just say no.

So if your teeth look like the picture above winding down before bed is probably a good idea because sleep quality as we talked about above really is key. I would absolutely speak to your Dentist about prescribing you a bite guard to give your teeth some protection while you’re sleeping too. Bite guards put a physical barrier between your upper and lower teeth. I have one and I feel it really helps prevent me clenching my teeth together at night especially if I’m stressed, takes some getting used to, but worth it in the end.

Losing tooth height through clenching or grinding is not ideal. Aside from tooth sensitivity it also AGES your smile which is becoming more and more of a concern for my patients. Luckily there are some very clever ways to restore your smile to its former glory one of which is composite bonding. Cosmetic bonding is usually a same day procedure without drills or injections which can transform your smile, taking years off you and giving you bags of confidence. If you would like to find out a bit more on cosmetic bonding you can have a little read of the Moira Cosmetic Dental blog which I’ll link here.

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Toothpaste wise, since attrition is usually accelerated by acid erosion I would probably recommend something like Sensodyne Pro Enamel* or Toothpaste for Rebuilding Teeth from Spotlight Oral Care, both of these toothpastes help strengthen enamel, making it more resistant to wear through teeth on teeth contact, one is just a bit pricer than the other so pick whichever is in your budget.

So attrition through clenching or grinding is actually quite a complicated type of tooth wear isn’t it? Its one that requires lots of compliance from you, a little bit of dental work usually and a little bit of treatment through your toothpaste. What can I say its a bit of a Lou Bega. You need to think about your mind, your environment and what you’re putting into your body. If you decide to go ahead with some restorative bonding, its really important to protect your investment and the dental work you’ve had done with a bite guard and if you have one already that unfortunately means getting a new one.

Thankyou so much for reading my blog <3 I have a whole series of tooth wear blogs available on my website, there are four main kinds of tooth wear, attrition, acid erosion, overbrushing and recession, where we find one we usually find another so if you would like some more info on any of these or tooth wear generally give the word a click and i’ll take you straight there.

*gifted products