Prevalence of dentine hypersensitivity among university students in Turkey

Dentine hypersensitivity (DH) is a common clinical finding with a wide variation in prevalence values. There is lack of data on the prevalence of dentinal sensitivity in Turkish population. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of DH and to examine some associated factors such as initiating stimuli among university students in Kırıkkale, Turkey.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among undergraduates of University of Kırıkkale, Turkey. An electronic questionnaire was developed and distributed via e-mail to undergraduate students in Kırıkkale University. Self-administered questionnaire elicited information on demography, self-reported dentinal sensitivity, the trigger factor, professional treatment taken, and duration time. Test of significance was done with Chi square statistics. P<0.05 was considered as significant.

A total of 1463 responses were evaluated in this study. One hundred and twenty-four students were diagnosed as having DH, giving a prevalence figure of 8.4%. The prevalence of DH in females was significantly higher than that in males. The most common initiating factor was cold drinks. Tooth sensitivity was found to be common among hard toothbrush users. About 46% of patients reported that they had not undergone any treatment for the discomfort and 35% reported having had some sort of treatment. Among the participants with dentinal sensitivity, 58.8% of the respondents reported that they use soft drinks occasionally. Approximately 64.2% of the patients claimed that DH was present for 1-6 days and the majority (87%) of the patients with hypersensitive teeth experienced pain occasionally.

The prevalence of DH among university students was 8.4%. DH is not a common problem in undergraduate university students.