Knowledge on and treatment practices of erosive tooth wear among Finnish dentists.

To investigate Finnish dentists' knowledge on and means of recording, detecting and diagnosing erosive tooth wear (ETW). Treatment options and possible differences in treatment decisions between general and specialized dentists were also evaluated. An electronic questionnaire was sent by e-mail to 3664 Finnish dentists. Respondents' gender, age, work experience, field of specialty, and practice location were requested. The questionnaire also included a patient case where the dentists were asked about their choice of treatment. Statistical analyses were performed using means, proportions, and cross tabulations. Response rate was 24% ( This study suggests that the Finnish dentists who participated in this survey are able to detect and/or diagnose erosive tooth wear, but there is variation in recording it. The differences in treatment decisions between general dentists and specialized dentists seem to be moderate. The treatment practices for ETW are not established and further research to create clinical guidelines seems to be needed.