Cervical Abrasion
Cervical abrasion is a condition where the neck of the tooth, at the border with the gum, wears into a V-shaped or crescent-shaped notch. This area has the thinnest enamel, so it wears first under the same amount of force.
There are usually two culprits
One is brushing hard side-to-side with a stiff toothbrush; the other is stress concentrating at the tooth's neck as it flexes from clenching or grinding. In practice, the two often act together, so simply filling the notch without addressing the cause lets the same spot wear down again.
Dr. Jongbum Lee's approach — for a notch, we first consider a resin restoration that removes less tooth structure, and correcting the underlying habit, such as brushing or clenching, is what prevents it from coming back.
Q. Does a notch always need to be filled?
A. If it's shallow and not sensitive, we sometimes just monitor it while correcting the habit. If it's sensitive or the notch is deepening, we cover it with resin to address both the progression and the sensitivity at once. The closer it gets to the nerve, the bigger the treatment needed, so catching it early pays off.
Minish