The aim of this study was to investigate how Brazilian dentists perceive and manage dentin hypersensitivity (DH) in their clinical routine. A 13-item questionnaire-based survey was developed and sent electronically to a convenience sample of dentists. The questionnaire assessed the personal and dental practice characteristics of the sample, the occurrence of DH in their daily clinical practice, and management strategies. The data were analyzed descriptively and together with the chi-square test (a = 0.05). A total of 353 responses were obtained from September 2017 to March 2018. Of all the respondents, 62% were females, 49.9% reported fewer than five years of dental practice, and 70.5% were self-identified as private practitioners. Most of the dentists reported an estimated frequency (30-60%) of patients with DH in their practice. The most frequently cited (91.79%) trigger of DH was air blast and/or scratching with a probe. The first-choice strategy to manage DH was a dentin desensitizer (48.16%). The number of years in clinical practice did not influence DH relapse frequency (p = 0.76) significantly, or consider DH treatment as a problem (p = 0.22). The present findings indicate that, regardless of clinical experience, dentists in Brazil still consider DH management a challenge in their daily dental practice. In addition, the results suggest that guidelines should be developed to disseminate the available knowledge regarding this condition in ways that may influence decision-making processes among practitioners.

ABSTRACT:The aim of this study was to analyze the biomechanical behavior of lower premolars regarding the non-carious cervical lesion (NCCL) depth, load type and restoration status, using finite element analysis. Twodimensional virtual model simulating a healthy lower premolar were created using the CAD software. Based on this image, five models were generated: healthy (H), three types of NCCLs: small lesion (SL -0.5 mm deep), medium lesion (ML -1.0 mm), deep lesion (DL -1.5 mm), and restored lesion (RL). The models were export to a CAE software (ANSYS Finite Element Analysis Software), the areas of all structures were plotted and each model was meshed using a control mesh device. All of the virtual models were subjected to two occlusal load types, (100N each): occlusal load (OL) and buccal load (BL) on buccal cusp. The magnitude and the stress distribution were obtained using the von Mises and maximum principal stress criteria (σ1), in MPa. The quantitative analysis of stress (MPa) was identified at three points of the NCCLs: enamel surface on its upper wall , dentin at the bottom wall and dentin on the lower wall. The results showed a direct relation between sequential removal of cervical structure and higher stress concentration for any groups and for both loads types. For OL the highest value of stress was 8.8 MPa for DL on upper wall of NCCLs.The BL exhibited higher stress values in comparison to the OL for all models.In addtion, the BL was responsible for providing the highest stress accumulation on the bottom wall, 38.2 MPa for DL. The restoration with composite resin was able to restore a stress distribution close to the healthy model, for both load types. In conclusion, the extent of non-carious cervical lesion and loading conditions influenced the stress distribution pattern of lower premolar. The outer load seems to be more critical in affecting the biomechanical behavior of lower premolars, regardless of the lesion size. The restoration of NCCLs with composite resin appears to recover the biomechanical behavior, similar to healthy model.

Non-carious Cervical Lesions (NCCL) are dental tissue defects, non-related to caries, frequently observed in the dental practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of NCCL on dentin depth and thickness and the response to dental pain by means of clinical diagnostic tests. 86 teeth from 14 patients with NCCL were assessed by: depth of NCCL, clinical tests (evaporative stimulus, to detect pain levels of dentin hypersensitivity, cold thermal test to classify pulp health, percussive stimuli to evaluate the periradicular tissues and cone beam computed tomography (tomography to evaluate remaining dentin thickness (RDT). In terms of depth, the sample was divided into two groups: G1- teeth with NCCLs ≤1.0mm and G2- teeth with NCCLs between 1.1-2.0 mm. Dental pain data were compared by Mann-Whitney test and RDT by Student’s t-test and correlations by the Pearson test (p<0.05). The depth of NCCL does not influence dental pain response to evaporative stimulus (p=0.129), cold thermal test (p = 0.125), vertical (p = 0.317) and horizontal (p = 0.119) percussion clinical diagnostic tests. However, G1 showed more RDT (p<0.001), and the correlation test showed that deeper NCCL presents smaller remaining dentin thickness (p=0.011/r=-0.273). In conclusion, tooth with NCCL up to 2mm-depth presents similar levels of pain for dentin hypersensitivity, pulp and periradicular tissue independent to NCCL depth, however, lesions with ≤1.0mm-depth showed greater RDT in tomographic findings.

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