Video transcript

Cupping and cratering is an interesting subject. Cupping and cratering, as I call it, is these idiopathic invaginations that we see on the surfaces of teeth. Ask any dentist what it is, and most will eventually say, "I don't know." Ask the literature what that is, and the answer is the same. My study has revealed that cupping and cratering can be caused from the rubbing of teeth, of abrasion, or from the dissolving of teeth through erosion. How it works is this. We do know that teeth are multilayered. We have an outer layer of enamel, and then we have the dentin layer that follows. Once the enamel is worn through to the dentin, then the dentin will abrade or erode at a more rapid rate than the peripheral surrounding enamel creating morphologically what we would observe to be as a cup or a crater.