[The epidemiology of dentine hypersensitivity among adults in Shanghai municipality].

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of dentine hypersensitivity among adults in Shanghai municipality, and to provide data for diagnosis and prevention of dentine hypersensitivity.

METHODS

The representative samples were selected by multi-stage,stratified and random sampling,which included 1320 subjects. Clinical examination was made to confirm the diagnosis of dentine hypersensitivity. SPSS 12.0 software package was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

The prevalence of dentine hypersensitivity was 32.58%, 173 patients were male and 257 were female, giving an overall male:female ratio of 1:1.49. The premolars were most affected, followed by the first molars. The most vulnerable surface of the teeth involved with sensitivity was the cervical area. 95.58% of the patients with dentine hypersensitivity had gingival recession. 92.75% of teeth with cervical dentine hypersensitive had gingival recession.

CONCLUSIONS

A medium prevalence figure is found in the present study in comparison with other countries. Gingival recession is the most important etiological factor of dentine hypersensitive.