Gender peculiarities of the prevalence of dental hyperesthesia

Abstract

Dental hyperesthesia is an increased sensitivity of hard tooth tissues to various stimuli, which indirectly manifests itself in pain, discomfort and difficulty eating, which emphasises the importance of treatment and prevention of this disease. There are several theories of this pathology, and most often, hypersensitivity is diagnosed in non-carious lesions and dental caries, as well as periodontal tissue diseases. Since this pathology is relevant today, it is worth paying attention to its prevention and treatment.

Aim - to investigate the gender peculiarities of the prevalence of dental hyperesthesia among different age groups for the purpose of further development of a scheme of treatment and prevention measures.

Materials and methods. To achieve the aim of the study, the prevalence of dental hyperesthesia was assessed by a questionnaire survey using a specially designed questionnaire among 95 people aged 18 to 55 years (47 men and 48 women) in a confidential setting.

Results. The analysis of the respondents' answers revealed a high prevalence of dental hyperesthesia among the study participants, namely, 68.4% of respondents answered positively to the question ‘Are you concerned about increased tooth sensitivity?’. A negative answer or difficulty in answering was given by 31.6% of survey participants. The majority of respondents (89.9%) indicated that pain or discomfort occurs under the influence of irritants. Only 10.1% of respondents said that pain occurs spontaneously. In general, the majority of respondents who indicated the presence of hyperesthesia rated the pain as moderate in intensity. The second place was taken by answers indicating mild pain. However, 6 people reported very severe pain and only 1 person reported unbearable pain.

Conclusions. It has been established that dental hyperesthesia is an urgent problem that affects dental health and signals various diseases of the dentoalveolar system, and has different ways of occurrence and development. Mostly female participants of the survey complained about the presence of tooth sensitivity. A detailed analysis of the results of the survey made it possible to identify gender differences in the nature and intensity of pain that occurs in response to stimuli or spontaneously, as well as the number of teeth that are sensitive to stimuli.

The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol was approved by the Bioethics and Deontology Committee of the institution mentioned in the paper. Informed consent was obtained from the respondents.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.