Management and Prevention Strategies for Treating Dentine Hypersensitivity

Abstract

The clinician faces numerous challenges when confronted with patients complaining of oro-facial pain, which can involve both dental and non-dental causes. Perhaps one of the most enigmatic clinical conditions that a clinician may encounter is that of dentine hypersensitivity (DH), dentine sensitivity (DS) or root sensitivity (RS), which is both problematic to identify and difficult to treat and may have a major effect on the patient’s quality of life (QoL). Ideally, the clinician needs to prevent or minimize these effects to reduce any unnecessary discomfort for the patient and this may be accomplished through preventive strategies, the provision of the required information about the procedures both pre- and post-treatments as well as reassuring the patient in the event of any subsequent discomfort. Furthermore, it is important for the clinician to be able to correctly diagnose the exact cause of the patient’s discomfort and have the confidence to successfully manage the problem. This chapter aims to cover the relevant aspects for both diagnosing and managing DH with an emphasis on adopting a preventive strategy that will attempt to minimize or eliminate the problem, thereby enabling the patient to have an improved quality of life.