Prevalence Of Dentine Hypersensitivity And Its Response To Non – Surgical Treatment In Benin City, Nigeria.

Context Exposure of the dentine of a tooth ultimately leads to its hypersensitivity which often presents as a painful response to applied stimulus. It is a common complaint among patients and is associated with multiple etiologic factors. To date, the prevalence of this condition and the response by patients to different non – surgical modalities of treatment in the study area have not been exhaustively investigated. Objective This study aims to determine the prevalence of tooth hypersensitivity and its response to non-surgical treatment modalities at the Periodontics Clinic of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City. Method This was a prospective study of males and females aged 16 to 75 years who were attending the University of Benin Teaching Hospital Periodontics clinic at the time of this study ( 2003 to 2004 ). Tooth hypersensitivity was recorded as present or absent based on patients' complaints, information from the questionnaire administered and corroborated by clinical findings. All clinical oral examinations were carried out at the Periodontics clinic. Result Of the 330 patients seen, 70 (21.2%) had tooth hypersensitivity. Females and patients aged 46-55 years were most affected while upper left molars were mainly implicated. Many of the patients investigated responded to oral hygiene instructions and dentine desensitisation. Conclusion Tooth hypersensitivity which results from exposed dentine affected a reasonable percentage of the population and caused discomfort, pain and sometimes tooth loss. Many of such cases (41.5%) responded to non-surgical treatment. Keywords: Tooth, Dentine, Hypersensitivity, Non-surgical.