SELF-APPLIED TREATMENTS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF DENTIN HYPERSENSITIVITY

A summary of the research on the different self-applied treatments for hypersensitive dentine provides some support for several agents but i nvalidates others. This is true for toothpastes, mouthwashes and gels. Direct comparison of studies is difficult because the materials and m ethods used are different. In addition, the size of patient groups, an d methods of stimulation and assessment of the evoked pain reaction ar e different. Therefore our concept of the efficacy of self-applied tre atment is not so much based on a homogeneous pool of data, but rather on a collection of individual studies. If we subtract from these data sets those based on obviously older ways of evaluating efficacy, we ar e left with surprisingly few studies that properly assess the efficacy of compounds suited to self-applied treatment. Therefore, guidelines should be established for testing such compounds, and publication of t he data sets should depend on proper use of such designs. Stimuli, des ign and pain assessment should be standardized. In addition, patient r ecruitment could be defined better in relation to criteria for inclusi on. Another area of concern is the pretreatment history of the hyperse nsitive teeth, because some teeth will become hypersensitive during th e observation period, whilst others, which were hypersensitive, will s pontaneously become insensitive. Therefore one should know the rate of spontaneous change in tooth sensitivity levels in each patient, in or der not to assign treatment effects to teeth that would have lost thei r sensitivity anyway.