Abstract: Over the years, studies of human dental wear concentrated on age determination and comparison of livelihood. However, much research has failed to explain scientifically the causes of human dental wear neglecting particularities of individual wear due to the lack of adequate personal information. This work focuses on the results of a field survey of dental wear and diet of modern male Shui nationalities from Libo County, Guizhou Province. It was found that dental wear is, on the whole, lighter, and shows a positive correlation with age where occlusal wear degenerates with increasing age. Dental wear levels of the Shui nationalities are distributed in a mosaic fashion with different ages and show offside wear among some individuals. The author argues that the phenomenon of mosaic distribution and offside wear commonly exists in humans and may be associated with degenerative physiological attrition, oral health status, diet structure and meal habits.

Key words: Shui nationality; Dental wear; Mosaic distribution; Offside wear; Oral health