Combining the Air Indexing Method With the T-Scan System to Detect and Quantify Cervical Dentin Hypersensitivity

Abstract

This chapter introduces the air indexing method for detecting and quantifying cervical dentin hypersensitivity (CDH) as a companion to the T-Scan Occlusal Analysis System which evaluates force and timing values for occlusal contacts of teeth. This chapter will also highlight an evidence-based retrospective investigation undertaken between 1979 and 1996 that evaluated associations and/or correlations between diagnosed CDH and its resolution following occlusal adjustment. This retrospective's method described the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of the signs and/or symptoms of the common clinical finding amongst patients with CDH. Stress physics will illustrate how small occlusal contacts magnify the impact that applied occlusal contact force has on the cervical regions of teeth. This resultant cervical stress is etiologic for how non-carious cervical lesions (NCCLs) form and degrade tooth roots. This chapter also explains how biocorrosion from endogenous and exogenous sources produces loss of dentin's protective proteins, glycoproteins, and cementum, which add to the effects of applied occlusal force, thereby creating CDH symptoms and NCCLs. CDH appears resultant from the co-factors of occlusal forces that produce cervical stress, along with biocorrosion, that are both modified by occlusal surface friction. The air indexing method of CDH diagnosis is an objective diagnostic means to detect and quantify CDH symptoms during the formation of cervical lesions. This chapter presents the clinical benefits of melding the T-Scan Occlusal Analysis System with the Air Indexing Method when clinically assessing and treating cervical hard tissue pathologies. The clinician gains significantly more occlusal insight as opposed to using either methodology alone, when air indexing is combined with T-Scan's occlusal contact force and timing data. Lastly, this chapter introduces two case reports of how T-Scan guided occlusal adjustments can be effective at reducing CDH and prohibiting the progression of gingival recession.