The association between dental wear and reduced vertical dimension of the face: A morphologic study on human skulls

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between dental wear and facial morphology, with particular reference to the occlusal vertical dimension, in modern human skulls. Design: One hundred and three skulls (52 men and 51 women) between the ages of 20 and 50+ years old were studied. The selected skulls were from a modern period (the 17th and the 18th centuries) and included at least one entire condyle and had at least 3 posterior teeth (premolar or molar) in each quadrant to allow for dental articulation. Occlusal wear was evaluated using ordinal scale (0-4) and vertical occlusal dimension was evaluated by measuring upper facial height (UFH), lower facial height (LFH), LFH-to-UFH ratio (L-U-R) and dental wear. Based on the occlusal wear score, two groups were defined: with and without significant wear. Results: Significant relation was observed between age and dental wear (P < 0.01). No significant differences were found in the LFH (P = 0.847) or UFH (P = 0.108) between the two wear groups. In addition, no significant difference (P = 0.132) was demonstrated in the LFH-to-UFH ratio between the groups. No difference was observed in the dental wear score between genders (P = 0.321). Conclusion: Within its limitations, this study demonstrated that dental wear does not influence the vertical dimension of occlusion. Our assumption is that the dento-facial complex fully compensates for the dental effects of wear throughout life.