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Updated: Mar 30, 2026
A Protocol of Manual Tests to Measure Sensation and Pain in Humans
Published on: December 19, 2016
Quantitative sensory testing of dentinal sensitivity in healthy humans
Kelun Wang1, Tao He2, Y I Luo1
1a Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine , Aalborg University , Aalborg , Denmark ;
Objective:
The study was to provide information on quantitative sensory testing (QST) of normal teeth to establish a sensory profile and investigate the possible gender and regional differences.
Materials And Methods:
A modified QST protocol was applied on both left and right upper-jaw incisors and pre-molar sof 14 healthy men and 14 age-matched healthy women (18-25 years). Mechanical stimulus sensitivity (MSS), cold detection threshold (CDT), cold pain threshold (CPT), warm detection threshold (WDT), heat pain threshold (HPT), electrical detection threshold (EDT) and electrical pain threshold (EPT) were determined from the four teeth (labial side of incisor and buccal side of the first premolar). The QST parameters were analysed by ANOVA.
Results:
The applied mechanical or thermal stimuli did not evoke any pain sensation. A normal tooth did not seem to be able to distinguish between the warm or cold stimuli applied. No significant differences were found between genders (p > 0.099) or teeth (p > 0.053) regarding mechanical and thermal stimuli. The EDT and EPT were significantly higher in the pre-molar compared with incisor (p < 0.002) without gender differences (p > 0.573).
Conclusion:
The established methods and results provided important information on diagnosis and treatment evaluation of dentinal hypersensitivity.
