Evolving Concepts in Erosive Tooth Wear: Risk, Prevention, and Minimal Intervention

Erosive tooth wear (ETW) represents a rapidly evolving area within dental medicine, drawing increasing attention due to its multifactorial etiology and substantial impact on oral function, aesthetics, and patient quality of life. Once regarded as an inevitable consequence of aging, ETW is now widely recognized as a largely preventable and manageable condition, supported by advances in understanding its underlying chemical mechanisms, modifying biological and behavioral factors, and patterns of clinical progression. Concurrently, the rapid development of digital diagnostic and monitoring workflows has transformed how ETW is detected, quantified, and followed longitudinally. Contemporary conceptual models integrate dietary acid exposure, salivary and host-related factors, oral hygiene behaviors, systemic health conditions, and the modifying influence of mechanical forces into a unified explanatory framework. Despite growing awareness of the prevalence and clinical relevance of ETW, important challenges remain in its classification, early detection, longitudinal monitoring, and minimally invasive management across the lifespan. This evolving landscape also reflects a broader conceptual shift toward integrated, risk- and outcome-based management models, in which diagnosis, monitoring, prevention, and minimally invasive intervention are dynamically interconnected.

This Research Topic brings together emerging perspectives to advance the understanding of erosive tooth wear across the continuum of risk assessment, prevention, detection, monitoring, and conservative management. By integrating clinical, translational, and population-based research, the objective is to refine mechanistic models of ETW, improve risk stratification, enhance early detection and longitudinal monitoring—particularly through digital technologies—and promote evidence-based, patient-centered preventive and therapeutic strategies. Central questions include how contemporary indices and their digital adaptations can improve diagnostic consistency; which preventive interventions most effectively address modifiable erosive risk factors; how minimal intervention workflows can balance functional, aesthetic, and biological outcomes while preserving dental hard tissues; and how disparities in the burden and management of ETW can be addressed globally.

Within this Topic, erosive tooth wear is used to define the clinical condition and its management, while descriptors such as tooth surface loss are reserved exclusively for research outcomes related to detection, quantification, and longitudinal monitoring, particularly within digital and three-dimensional workflows. This distinction preserves etiological clarity while allowing the inclusion of studies addressing mixed-mechanism models, provided that erosion remains a defining and clinically significant contributing component of the investigated process.

This Research Topic welcomes submissions that contribute to a comprehensive and contemporary understanding of erosive tooth wear, while excluding studies focused exclusively on highly invasive or outdated restorative approaches. Contributions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Contemporary definitions and mechanistic models of erosive tooth wear, including chemical drivers and modifying mechanical, behavioral, and systemic factors
• Risk assessment, early detection, and prognostic indicators for ETW, including patient-centered outcomes and chairside screening tools
• Measurement science in ETW, including clinical indices, digital surface loss metrics as research outcomes, and harmonization across studies
• Digital diagnostics, three-dimensional analysis, and longitudinal monitoring of ETW progression, including AI-driven and large-cohort approaches
• Prevention strategies targeting erosive challenges, including behavioral interventions and novel protective agents or technologies
• Minimal intervention clinical pathways for ETW, with emphasis on conservative, additive, and digitally supported restorative approaches
• The role of bruxism and occlusal factors as modifying influences on erosive tooth wear, including appliance-based strategies within minimal intervention management
• Epidemiology, health inequalities, and implementation research related to ETW in real-world clinical, public health, and educational settings

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: tooth wear, erosive tooth surface loss, digital dentistry, minimal intervention, dental erosion, risk assessment, tooth wear prevention, dental monitoring, erosive tooth wear, tooth wear risk assessment, minimal intervention dentistry, preventive dentistry, 3d intraoral scanning, bruxism and erosion

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.