The original desensitizers: strontium and potassium salts

Many patients complain of teeth that are painful when exposed to a variety of harmless thermal and tactile stimuli. Sensitive tooth necks and root surfaces frequently are the unintentional by-products of aggressive oral hygiene practices and periodontal treatment. Dentists and the afflicted patients have resorted to many remedies for this common form of dental pain. In the past, many of these purported treatments were based on a fragmentary knowledge of the anatomic substrate and physiological processes underlying dentin sensitivity. Much progress has been made identifying dentin permeability and intradental nerve excitability as physiological parameters that can be modified by desensitizing agents. In this paper, rather than provide a comprehensive or critical review of desensitizing treatment, I will discuss the rationale and some of the history behind two early and popular classes of dentifrice-applied desensitizing agents; strontium and potassium salts.