Clinical evaluation of the effectiveness of three dentifrices in relieving dentin sensitivity

It has been reported that sensitive dentin is present in no less than one of seven normal patients with a higher incidence among postperiodontal therapy patients. Numerous agents have been developed to relieve this sensitivity without any being universally acceptable. Two new dentifrices, Protect and Protect with fluoride were compared clinically with Sensodyne to determine the relative ability of these three products to relieve both thermal and tactile sensitivity in sensitive dentin. Double blind analyses were completed and results compared using appropriate statistical tests for each hypothesis tested. The three dentifrices relieved both tactile and thermal sensitivity, but there was no statistical difference at 8 weeks between the three agents. There was a difference in the time it took the dentifrices to achieve a statistically significant reduction in dentin sensitivity.