abfraction

== English == === Etymology === From ab- +‎ fraction (“act of breaking”); from 1991. === Noun === abfraction (countable and uncountable, plural abfractions) (dentistry) A proposed mechanism for noncarious tooth tissue loss, owing not to decay but rather to biomechanical stresses of biting and chewing; the pathogenesis of such damage remains a subject of continuing study. An instance of tooth tissue loss via this mechanism. ==== Related terms ==== abfracted (evidently back-formed)