Problems Reported by Patients with Dentin Hypersensitivity Before/After Treatment

Objectives: Hypersensitive teeth are substantially associated with impaired oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). The problems that are most important to patients with hypersensitive teeth and whether problem frequency changes with treatment are not known. Using the Oral Health Impact Profile, we investigated the frequency of oral health-related problems reported by patients with dentin hypersensitivity and whether problem frequency improved after treatment. Methods: In 163 German dental offices, 509 patients participated in a multi-center field trial of dentin hypersensitivity treatment. The patients completed the German version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-G) before and after 21 days of home use of an AmF-containing toothpaste, a mouthrinse (AmF/KF), and a toothbrush specially designed to treat hypersensitivity (elmex SENSITIVE). Changes in the frequency of problems reported in the individual OHIP domains were characterized by the difference of the mean summary score for each domain between baseline and follow-up. Results: At baseline, the 5 most often reported problems were: hypersensitive teeth (78%), food catching in the teeth (36.5%), worried by dental problems (25.9%), sore gum (24.9%), and uncomfortable to eat (23.6%). After 21 days of home use of three products to treat hypersensitive teeth, positive changes in OHIP domain were observed. Functional limitation: Baseline 6.9 vs. Follow-up 4.8, Pain: 10.8 vs. 6.6, Psychological discomfort: 4.3 vs. 2.5, Physical disability: 4.7 vs. 2.8, Psychological disability: 3.4 vs. 1.9, Social disability: 1.7 vs. 1.0, Handicap: 2.7 vs. 1.6. Conclusions: Beyond pain, hypersensitive teeth are related to a wide range of problems assessed with the Oral Health Impact Profile. In addition to reduction of pain, patients with hypersensitive teeth reported an improvement in all domains of oral health-related quality of life after treatment. The study was supported by GABA Germany. Keywords: oral health-related quality of life, dentin hypersensitivity