Preventing dental erosion in at-risk patients

Learn when and how to educate patients who are at high risk for tooth damage, especially those experiencing high-frequency or chronic vomiting.

Dental erosion, in which acid wears away tooth enamel, is a slowly evolving condition with serious long-term outcomes. Tooth sensitivity is the first sign that dental erosion is underway. As dental erosion evolves, teeth become weak, discolored, and painful. Biting into and chewing meats, dense breads, or hard fruits such as apples becomes difficult. If dental erosion continues unchecked, it can cause lifelong problems. Untreated dental erosion can become so severe that teeth will break. Once they're made aware of this problem, high-risk patients can prevent or stop further dental erosion.

Currently, knowledge about dental erosion is nearly exclusively held by dentists and dental hygienists, so they're the providers who most often teach high-risk patients. Yet, patients who are at risk for developing dental erosion usually see physicians and nurses for different conditions that lead to dental erosion before they visit their dentists. Neither physicians nor nurses are routinely taught to assess or intervene to prevent dental erosion, and nurses typically aren't taught how to educate patients to prevent early dental erosion from progressing. Thus, at-risk patients in the healthcare setting, such as those with high-frequency or chronic vomiting, aren't guided on how to protect their teeth from dental erosion. The purpose of this article is to address this knowledge gap for nurses at all levels of practice.