[Preventive dentistry 4. Prevention and treatment of dentine hypersensitivity]

Many people sometimes experience pain when they inhale breath across the cingula or when they consume, for example, cold drinks. The most important method of prevention is to ensure that the dentine does not become exposed. If the dentine is exposed, both chemical and mechanical damage to the surface of the tooth must be prevented. Optimal treatment should be minimally invasive and primarily consist of advising the patient to brush his or her teeth and/or rub the sensitive area with a toothpaste especially developed to ease the pain of hypersensitive teeth. As an additional support a mouth rinse can be used. If this approach provides insufficient relief, professional measures can be deployed. Here, too, the least invasive treatment approaches ought to be treatment of first choice before moving on to more invasive therapies.