Evaluation of dentine hypersensitivity in adult population with chronic periodontitis visiting dental hospital in Chandigarh.

BACKGROUND: Periodontal attachment loss could be an earlier indicator or a possible risk factor of dentine hypersensitivity (DH). Thus, there is a need for diagnosing this condition both by questionnaire and by clinical examination before rendering both home care and in-office treatment modalities. AIMS: To investigate the relationship between various demographic factors and DH and to detect the percentage of patients using desensitizing agents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 2051 patients were evaluated till the required sample size of 1000 patients was achieved who were evaluated both by questionnaire and clinical test. Association between DH clinical attachment level and apparent recession was established. RESULTS: This study found that the prevalence of dentine hypersensitivity in chronic periodontitis patients was 37.2% according to questionnaire and 47.8% according to the results of clinical test. Various demographic factors were found to affect dentine hypersensitivity such as age, gender, education, diet, and locality. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of dentine hypersensitivity in chronic periodontitis patients was 37.2% according to questionnaire and 47.8% according to the results of clinical test. Periodontal attachment loss could be an earlier indicator or a possible risk factor of DH. Only 14.36% of the patients with sensitive teeth used desensitizing paste. This could be due to the fact that either the patients did not consider the condition bad enough to warrant treatment or it was not being diagnosed.