Study of Prevalence and Character of Hyperesthesia Among Elderly Residents in Vasileostrovsky and Petrogradsky Districts of St. Petersburg

Abstract

Abstract. Hypersensitivity of teeth pose an ineresting question in the practice of the dentist because of its high prevalence and polyetiological nature. The aim of the work was to establish the incidence of tooth hyperesthesia among elderly residents of Vasileostrovsky and Petrogradsky districts of St. Petersburg. The study involved 117 participants of both sexes, divided into 2 age groups (55-64;65-75). 70 patients with hypersensitivity of teeth tissues were detected. In addition to establishing the fact of hyperesthesia, patients were interviewed, teeth were examined for the presence of carious and non-carious lesions, the states of oral hygiene and periodontal tissues were evaluated using dental indices. To determine the general condition of the patient's oral health we used: OHI (simplified Green-Vermillion index, (Green, Vermillion, 1964)) - to determine the level of oral hygiene, PI index (P.A. Leus, 1988) - to determine the presence of symptoms of periodontal pathology, DMF (Klein, Palmer, 1937) - to determine the degree of dental caries. Assessment of dental hyperesthesia was carried out using indices of prevalence (IPDH) and intensity (IIDH) of dental hyperesthesia. According to the results of the examination the following conclusions were made: the most susceptible to hyperesthesia were women from 55 to 64 years old (44,28% of all those examined). An unsatisfactory level of hygiene, an average degree of periodontal disease and a high degree of caries intensity were detected, a limited form of hyperesthesia was more frequent (56.81% of all cases) with a reaction to all types of stimuli(63.02% of all cases), a moderate level of tooth sensitivity efficiency was noted(56.5%). The results of the survey showed that many patients do not maintain the necessary level of oral hygiene, rarely visit the dentist and are dissatisfied with their oral health.