article_Bologa-Stoleriu-2020

CARIOLOGY                                                                                                                                             www.stomaeduj.com




KNOWLEDGE ABOUT DENTIN HYPERSENSITIVITY:




                                                                                                                                                      Original Articles
A QUESTIONNAIRE-BASED SURVEY AMONG DENTAL
STUDENTS AND YOUNG DENTISTS
Emilia Bologa1a , Simona Stoleriu1b* , Angela Cristina Ghiorghe1c , Galina Pancu1d , Irina Nica1e , Sorin Andrian1f
1
 Department of Odontology, Periodontology and Fixed Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy
of Jassy, Jassy, Romania

a
  DDS, PhD Student; e-mail: bologa.emilia@umfiasi.ro; ORCIDiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0091-8765
b
  DDS, PhD, Associate Professor; e-mail: stoleriu_simona@yahoo.com; ORCIDiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5427-6027
c
  DDS, PhD, Lecturer; e-mail: cristina.ghiorghe@umfiasi.ro; ORCIDiD: https://orcid.org0000-0002-1636-6686
d
  DDS, PhD, Lecturer; e-mail: galina.pancu@umfasi.ro; ORCIDiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9593-1884
e
  DDS, PhD, Assistant Professor; e-mail: irina.nica@umfiasi.ro; ORCIDiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1189-0785
f
 DDS, PhD, Professor; e-mail: sorin.andrian@umfiasi.ro; ORCIDiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9271-6123


ABSTRACT                                                                         https://doi.org/10.25241/stomaeduj.2020.7(3).art.3

Introduction Continued education is a fundamental characteristic of one’s working life, especially in the
medical field. Keeping up to date should be a mandatory element of dental practice. Dentin hypersensitivity
(DH) has been a long-term significant challenge for practitioners due to the uncertainties around its diagnosis
and treatment. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge of senior dental students and young doctors
with respect to this dental pathology.
Methodology A total of 632 self-administered questionnaire were distributed to dental students and
doctors for data collection. The 10 questions investigated the knowledge about the description of pain
in DH, triggering and predisposing factors, treatment strategies, preventive and treatment measures,
remineralization products, etiological factors of dental wear, and main characteristics of DH. The data were
analyzed using SPSS 20.0. Standard descriptive statistics were computed and analytical statistical analysis
was performed using Pearson’s chi-square test.
Results The response rate for dental students was 87.87% and 10.2% for young doctors. Most respondents
revealed a good level of knowledge regarding pain characterization, triggering factors, and predisposing
factors of dentin hypersensitivity, and a satisfactory level for the disease management strategies. The average
score of the questionnaire recorded at group level was 42.253.
Conclusion Young dentists had better knowledge of DH compared to 6th-year dental students. The
information obtained from this study revealed that there is a need to provide better theoretical but also
clinical teaching opportunities to students, as well as continued educational programs to young doctors.

KEYWORDS
Dentin Hypersensitivity; Knowledge; Dental Students; Dentists; Questionnaire.

1. INTRODUCTION                                                                  is exposed to different stimuli (typically thermal,
                                                                                 evaporative, tactile, osmotic or chemical) and the
Dentin hypersensitivity (DH) is a condition that has                             pain cannot be ascribed to any other form of dental
often been encountered in dental practice in recent                              defect or disease. The prevalence of DH ranges from
decades [1–3], however, the historical reporting                                 1.34% to 92.1% in the adult population [1–4,7–11].
of this symptomatology goes as far back as the                                   This discrepancy occurs due to the differences in
16th century [4,5]. Holland et al. [6] described this                            the methods used for diagnosis and in the selection
pathology as a short, sharp pain arising when dentin                             criteria of the subjects.



              OPEN ACCESS This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
              Peer-Reviewed Article
    Citation: Bologa E, Stoleriu S, Ghiorghe AC, Pancu G, Nica I, Andrian S. Knowledge about dentin hypersensitivity: a questionnaire-based survey
    among dental students and young dentists. Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3):175-183.
    Received: June 25, 2020; Revised: July 13, 2020; Accepted: July 20, 2020; Published: July 22, 2020
    *Corresponding author: Simona Stoleriu; Address: 16 Universității Str., RO-700115 Jassy, Romania;
    Tel.: 0040745106066; Fax: +40.232.211.820; e-mail: stoleriu_simona@yahoo.com;
    Copyright: © 2020 the Editorial Council for the Stomatology Edu Journal.




Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3): 175-183                                                                      pISSN 2360-2406; eISSN 2502-0285                 175
                    Bologa E, et al.
www.stomaeduj.com

Original Articles




                                                                                                              Figure 1. Sample of the
                                                                                                             questionnaire used in the
                                                                                                             present study.


                    Patients with sensitive teeth experience discomfort      questionnaires, providing descriptive data on
                    while eating, drinking, and brushing their teeth, all    the entire population being studied. In scientific
                    of them being considered activities that affect the      literature, several self-reported questionnaire studies
                    quality of life [2,12]. The academic curricula include   assess students’ or dentists’ knowledge about dentin
                    clinical training for students to diagnose and to        hypersensitivity [1–4,8,9,14,15].
                    treat patients with different dental diseases under      Those surveys evaluated the clinical practice of the
                    supervision, and therefore they are expected to have     subjects in patients with DH and did not assess the
                    adequate knowledge about these conditions. Dental        theoretical knowledge that they possess about this
                    students and beginner young dentists that no longer      disease.
                    have a supervisor to check their work quality must       The theoretical educational processes represent
                    be acquainted with DH and must have the skills to        the base for developing clinical skills. For this
                    correctly manage the disease [3,9].                      reason, we conducted a study to evaluate the
                    There are limited data available regarding dental        knowledge of dental students and young dentists
                    students’ and young dentists’ understanding of DH,       about dentin hypersensitivity regarding pain
                    especially in Romania, where no studies have been        description, triggering factors, predisposing factors,
                    conducted on this topic.                                 diagnosis, preventive and treatment measures. The
                    Questionnaires are objective tools that researchers      null hypothesis of the present study is that there
                    can use to collect information about people’s            are no differences in the evaluation of the level of
                    knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior              knowledge between young dentists and dental
                    [13]. Cross-sectional studies can be based on            students.



  176               Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3): 175-183                                         pISSN 2360-2406; eISSN 2502-0285
Knowledge about dentin hypersensitivity
                                                                                                                                                      www.stomaeduj.com




                                                                                                                                                    Original Articles
                                                                           Figure 3. The distribution of scores obtained by students and dentists
                                                                          for Q2 (regarding the triggering factors of DH).
 Figure 2. The distribution of scores obtained by students and dentists
for Q1 (regarding the pain characteristics of DH).




                                                                           Figure 5. The distribution of scores obtained by students and dentists
                                                                          for Q5 (regarding the preventive measures of DH).

 Figure 4. The distribution of scores obtained by students and dentists
for Q3 (regarding the predisposing factors of DH).
                                                                          two dental students were asked to respond to the
                                                                          self-administered questionnaire at the end of their
                                                                          Cariology classes. Also, 500 young dentists were
                                                                          randomly chosen from the alumni database and
                                                                          received the questionnaire online. No reminder was
                                                                          given to those participants who did not return the
                                                                          questionnaire.
                                                                          A literature search was performed on readily available
                                                                          questionnaires that measure the knowledge of
                                                                          dental students and young dentists about dentin
                                                                          hypersensitivity. None of them met the criteria to be
                                                                          followed in this study, so a new questionnaire was
                                                                          developed.
 Figure 6. The distribution of scores obtained by students and dentists
                                                                          The process of developing the new questionnaire
for Q6 (regarding the treatment of DH).                                   followed the recommendations of Tsang et al. [16].
                                                                          The first step was to establish the expert committee,
2. MATERIAL AND METHODS                                                   that was comprised of cariology professors, and
                                                                          then identify the dimensionality of the construct.
This cross-sectional study was conducted since                            It was decided that the questionnaire will be self-
November 2018 till May 2019. A total of 632 questio-                      administered because in this way the respondents
nnaires were distributed among senior dental                              will answer more truthfully.
students (6th year of study) at the Faculty of Dental                     The items used specific medical terminology because
Medicine - “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine                       all the participants were trained in the dentistry field,
and Pharmacy Iași, Romania, and among alumni                              hence being familiar with such terms. The questio-
who graduated in the last five years.                                     nnaire was constructed based on nine close-ended
All participants were informed about the purpose                          questions (seven multiple choice questions, one
and the objective of this study and signed a                              true/false question, one matrix question) and one
consent form of agreement. One hundred thirty-                            open-ended item (Fig. 1).


Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3): 175-183                                                               pISSN 2360-2406; eISSN 2502-0285                       177
                    Bologa E, et al.
www.stomaeduj.com

Original Articles    Table 1. The qualitative assessment for the 7 multiple choice questions.

                               Question                          Group                           Good               Satisfactory           Insufficient
                         Q1 - description of the students                                        67.2%                 10.3%                 22.4%*
                                     pain in DH dentists                                         80.4%                 11.8%                  7.8%*
                                                         students                               73.3%*                 23.3%*                 3.4%
                         Q2 - triggering factors
                                                         dentists                               88.2%*                 7.8%*                  3.9%
                                                         students                               65.5%*                 16.4%*                18.1%
                     Q3 - predisposing factors
                                                         dentists                               84.3%*                 2.0%*                 13.7%
                                                         students                               32.8%*                 32.8%                 34.5%*
                     Q4 - treatment strategies
                                                         dentists                               60.8%*                 31.4%                  7.8%*
                                  Q5 - preventive students                                      43.1%*                 37.9%                 19.0%*
                                        measures dentists                                       70.6%*                 27.5%                  2.0%*
                                                         students                               22.4%*                 69.0%                  8.6%
                      Q6 - treatment measures
                                                         dentists                               41.2%*                 54.9%                  3.9%
                           Q7 - remineralization students                                       12.9%*                 57.8%                 29.3%
                                      products dentists                                         39.2%*                 45.1%                 15.7%
                    * statistically significant differences between students and dentists for each category

                     Table 2. The qualitative assessment for the 7 multiple choice questions.


                     Q4: therapeutic strategies
                     Pearson’s chi-square test= 16.720,                                  Students                   Dentists        Total
                     P = .010*

                                                                                 n                 %           n           %          n               %
                                             0                                  37a             31.9%*         4b         7.8%*       41          24.6%
                                             1                                   1a              0.9%          0a         0.0%         1             0.6%
                                             2                                   2a              1.7%          0a         0.0%         2             1.2%
                                             3                                   9a              7.8%          3a         5.9%        12             7.2%
                                             4                                  29a             25.0%         13a         25.5%       42          25.1%
                                             5                                  33a             28.4%*        26b        51.0%*       59          35.3%
                                             6                                   5a              4.3%          5a         9.8%        10             6.0%
                      Total                                                     116             100.0%        51         100.0%      167          100.0%
                    * statistically significant differences between students and dentists for each category


                    Items were simple, short, and written in the native                             7 multiple choice questions about the description
                    language of the respondents. It was considered                                  of the pain in DH, triggering factors, predisposing
                    that a 10-item questionnaire was short enough to                                factors, treatment strategies, preventive measures,
                    avoid respondents experiencing fatigue or loss of                               treatment measures, and remineralization products.
                    motivation during completion. The experts revie-                                The matrix question was about the etiological factors
                    wed the items in order to make sure they were                                   of dental wear (abrasion, abfraction, and erosion),
                    accurate, free of item construction problems, and                               and the true/false question had subscales about the
                    grammatically correct. Minor modifications were                                 main characteristics of DH.
                    made to the instrument to achieve the objectives of                             The open-ended question asked the participants to
                    the study.                                                                      give an example of desensitizing toothpastes that
                    Content and face validation were obtained by                                    participants may have knowledge of being efficient
                    circulating the questionnaire to 15 senior dental                               in DH treatment.
                    students and five young dentists (others than the                               We used a quantitative evaluation by scoring
                    ones we recruited for the study). They concluded                                each response between 0-6 points according to
                    that the questionnaire items were clear, easy, valid,                           the number of correct answers identified, first 7
                    and covered all the main subjects regarding the                                 questions had between 2-4 correct answers (for each
                    knowledge of DH.                                                                incorrect answer given or correct answer missed 1
                    The survey instrument recorded the respondent’s                                 point was deducted; a single answer given scored 0
                    gender and age. The subjects were asked to respond                              points). Question no.8 scored 0 or 6, for question



  178               Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3): 175-183                                                                 pISSN 2360-2406; eISSN 2502-0285
Knowledge about dentin hypersensitivity
                                                                                                                                            www.stomaeduj.com




                                                                                                                                            Original Articles
 Table 3. Results obtained by students and dentists at Q7.


 Q7: Remineralization strategies
 Pearson’s Chi-square Test = 39.981,                                 Students                       Dentists           Total
 P = .000**

                                                             n                 %             n                 %             n       %
                         0                                  31a             26.7%*           2b            3.9%*             33    19.8%
                         1                                   0a              0.0%            1a               2.0%           1      0.6%
                         2                                   3a              2.6%            5b               9.8%           8      4.8%
                         3                                  44a             37.9%            11b           21.6%             55    32.9%
                         4                                  23a             19.8%            12a           23.5%             35     21%
                         5                                   8a              6.9%*           19b          37.3%*             27    16.2%
                         6                                   7a              6.0%            15a              2.0%           8      4.8%
  Total                                                     116             100.0%           51           100.0%         167       100.0%
* statistically significant differences between students and dentists for each category


 Table 4. Global score obtained of each group.

 One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test p = .000*
 Mann-Whitney U = 1466.500, p = .000**

                                                                                                    Standard
                                                                                 Standard
                 Group                             N              Mean                             error of the      Minimum      Maximum
                                                                                 deviation
                                                                                                      mean

                student                          116              40.471            7.8261            .7266            8.0          52.8

                 dentist                          51              46.306            7.1557           1.0020            8.4          54.6

 Total                                           167              42.253            8.0697            .6245            8.0          54.6


no.9 each correct association scored 2 points, and for                          The confidence interval was set to 95% and
question no.10 each correct answer scored 1.2 points.                           p-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically
The maximum overall score of the questionnaire                                  significant.
was 60 points. For the qualitative assessment, each
response was evaluated as follows:                                              3. RESULTS
- from 0-2 points = Insufficient,
- 3-4 points = Satisfactory,                                                    The response rate for dental students was 87.87%
- 5-6 points = Good.                                                            (116 questionnaires returned from 132), and for
The participants’ overall knowledge was categorized                             young doctors this was 10.2% (51 questionnaires
using modified Bloom’s cut-off point, as good if the                            returned from 500). The mean age of the participants
score was between 80 and 100% (48–60 points),                                   was 26.34 ± 3.635 years. Most participants were
satisfactory if the score was between 50 and 79%                                students (69.5%) and 30.5% were doctors. The re-
(30–47 points), and insufficient if the score was less                          sults showed that 61.1% were female participants
than 50% (< 30 points).                                                         and 38.9% males.
                                                                                The qualitative assessment for the seven multiple
2.1 Statistical Analysis                                                        choice questions is presented in Table 1. The percen-
The data obtained were fed into Microsoft Excel                                 tage of young doctors having a good level of
(Microsoft Inc., USA). The statistical software SPSS                            knowledge was statistically significantly higher than
20.0 (IBM Inc., USA) was used for data analysis.                                the one of dental students (Pearson’s Chi-square
The standard descriptive methods were applied                                   Test, p<0.05).
to determine the characteristics of the sample.                                 Regarding the characterization of dentin hyper-
Pearson’s Chi-square test was applied to compare                                sensitivity, 27 out of all subjects (16.2%) did not know
categorical variables between the groups.                                       the correct answer, while the majority of subjects
We used nonparametric Mann-Whitney U and One-                                   (105 subjects - 62.9%) obtained the maximum score.
Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests to evaluate the                                 The comparative study of the results obtained by
differences in the distribution of the age data set and                         students and doctors revealed statistically significant
data from the true/false question.                                              differences (Pearson’s Chi-square Test, p = 0.001).



Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3): 175-183                                                                     pISSN 2360-2406; eISSN 2502-0285        179
                    Bologa E, et al.
www.stomaeduj.com



                    The percentage of students who did not know                value that proved subjects had average knowledge
Original Articles
                    how to characterize dentin hypersensitivity was            of dentin hypersensitivity, as seen in Table 4. There
                    significantly higher than the doctors’ percentage as       were statistically significant differences between
                    seen in Figure 2.                                          the performances of doctors and students in this
                    For the question regarding the triggering factors          questionnaire, indicating that doctors had a higher
                    of DH, 31.7% of all respondents obtained the maxi-         level of knowledge than students on the investigated
                    mum score. There was a statistically significant diff-     subject.
                    erence (Fig. 3) between the percentage of doctors
                    (45.1%) and that of students (25.9%) who obtained          4. DISCUSSION
                    a maximum score of 6 (Pearson’s Chi-square Test, p
                    = 0.032).                                                  The current research is one of the first studies that
                    The third question analyzed the knowledge of the           aimed to establish whether the knowledge of young
                    predisposing factors that determine the appearance         doctors differs from the knowledge of senior dental
                    of DH. Figure 4 shows that a significantly higher          students regarding their theoretical information
                    percentage of doctors (37.7%) than of students             about the dentin hypersensitivity. The high students’
                    (16.4%) scored a maximum of 6 points, while a              response rate can be due to the setting in which
                    significantly higher percentage of students (12.1%)        the questionnaires were collected, as soon as they
                    than of doctors scored 4 points.                           were filled. We observe a similar response rate (75.7
                    Table 2 shows the scores obtained by students and          -78.7%) to the one reported in other studies that
                    dentists for question no.4 regarding the therapeutic       analyzed dental students [3, 9]. The doctors’ response
                    strategies.                                                rate was lower, mainly because the interaction with
                    The fifth item looked into the knowledge regarding         the participants was on-line. Additionally, the lack of
                    the preventive measures for DH. The comparative            knowledge and understanding of the subject might
                    evaluation of doctors and students showed                  have prevented them from filling in and returning
                    statistically significant differences (Pearson’s Chi-      the questionnaire [17]. These data (response rate of
                    square Test, p = 0.001 – Fig. 5).                          10.2% in the current study) are also in line with the
                    Analyzing the results of the sixth question regarding      low response rate (7%) reported by the Canadian
                    the treatment measures of DH we identified                 Advisory Board on Dentin Hypersensitivity in a similar
                    statistically significant differences (Pearson’s chi-      study regarding the practitioners’ understanding
                    square Test, p = 0.040) between the 5.9% of the            and clinical management of DH [8].
                    young doctors that obtained the maximum score              Our study revealed that most participants knew that
                    compared with none of the students (Fig. 6).               the short and sharp pain is characteristic for DH,
                    The results obtained for the seventh question about        which is an important step in correctly diagnosing
                    remineralization strategies are shown in Table 3.          this disease. The first clinical data that a practitioner
                    On the open-ended question, namely question                must collect cover the history of the patient’s pain
                    eight, 160 participants (95.8%) were able to give          [8,18].
                    examples of desensitizing toothpastes. There were          In the present study, most participants had a good
                    no statistically significant differences (Pearson’s Chi-   performance on the evaluation of all triggering
                    square Test, p = 0.340) between the answers given          factors (thermal, tactile, evaporative, chemical
                    by the students compared with the doctors.                 stimuli) of DH, but young doctors had a significantly
                    Item number nine analyzed the knowledge about              better performance than students. In other studies,
                    the etiology of different types of dental wear             92% of the surveyed dentist identified chemical and
                    (abrasion, abfraction, and erosion). Most participants     thermal stimuli as the main triggering factors for DH
                    (63.5%) obtained the maximum score, and 7.8% of            [2]. Amarasena et al. [19] observed that cold stimuli
                    the subjects failed to make any correct association.       were the most frequently cited trigger of DH (67.5%).
                    There were no statistically significant differences        An earlier study reported the participants’ lack of
                    (Pearson’s Chi-square Test, p = 0.052) between the         knowledge because the doctors had identified
                    answers given by the students compared with the            bruxism and malocclusion as triggers of DH even
                    doctors.                                                   though neither has been recognized as a major
                    The last question evaluated the knowledge of               causative factor [8].
                    some of the main characteristics of the DH. The            Most participants had a good performance when
                    average score recorded was 3.959 ± 1.2037, and             asked to identify multiple predisposing factors
                    no statistically significant differences (One-Sample       (tooth erosion, dentin exposure, gingival recession)
                    Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test p = .000*, Mann-Whitney            of DH. Comparatively, young doctors performed
                    U = 2689.500, p = 0.328) were obtained between             better than the senior dental students on this specific
                    students and doctors.                                      item. The data are consistent with other studies that
                    The subjects’ answers to the questionnaire were            have reported abrasion and gingival recession as the
                    also quantified using an overall score, with values        most important predisposing factor for DH [1,19].
                    between 8 and 54.6. The average score recorded at          The dental professional should identify and remove
                    the level of the whole group was 42.253 ± 8.0697 - a       predisposing factors as a first step approach when



  180               Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3): 175-183                                           pISSN 2360-2406; eISSN 2502-0285
Knowledge about dentin hypersensitivity
                                                                                                                                 www.stomaeduj.com



treating patients with DH [18]. Less than half of the     by the higher practical experience that doctors




                                                                                                                                 Original Articles
respondents knew the therapeutic strategies for DH.       accumulate in time, although dental students
One-third of the dental students and four doctors         studied DH more recently. This demonstrates that
obtained a null score on this question, which means       theoretical knowledge needs to be completed by
an insufficient level of knowledge. This question did     practice and vice-versa.
not appear in other questionnaire-based studies           Given the high prevalence of DH and its complexity,
that we found in our scientific literature search.        the results of this study point to the stringent need to
The preventive measures were identified by two-           provide better theoretical, but also clinical teaching
thirds of the young doctors and more than one-            opportunities to students and good access to
third of the students, and half of all respondents        continued educational programs to young doctors.
performed well on this item. This is in agreement         These will contribute to a better quality of care for
with the studies of Benoist et al. [2] (where 78% of      patients having this pathology. To date, there is
the dentists recognized the preventive measures)          no evidence of such an observational study being
and Nazir et al. [3] where the most common                undertaken in dentistry, but it is our belief that such
preventive strategy (74.1%) used by dental students       a design would lead to interesting and significant
and interns was the proper education on tooth-            insights for the field. The limitations of the study
brushing technique.                                       are the decreased overall response rate obtained
As to identifying the correct treatment of DH,            and the restricted population of undergraduate
the data revealed that less than one-third of all         students belonging to the same university. Further
participants obtained a good performance score,           multicenter studies are required in order to allow
most of them having only satisfactory results. The        for these results to be confidently generalized into a
mostly recognized treatment strategies were the           wider population of general dental practitioners and
correction of toothbrushing technique and the use         senior dental students.
of desensitizing toothpastes, which is consistent
with other studies [2,3,9,19]. Less than ten percent of   5. CONCLUSION
all respondents failed to answer this item correctly.
This is in agreement with the result obtained by          The findings of this study indicate that dentists under
Cunha-Cruz et al. [20].                                   five-years’ working experience have significantly
Half of all participants had satisfactory knowledge       better knowledge as compared to 6th-year dental
about the remineralization strategies used in the         students. Both groups of participants were far
treatment of DH, but one-third of them did not know       better informed regarding DH pain characterization,
the answer.                                               triggering factors, and predisposing factors of this
Almost all of the participants had knowledge of and       condition, and less about its treatment.
could mention at least one brand of desensitizing
toothpaste. That is in conformity with the findings       CONFLICT OF INTEREST
of Benoist et al. [2], but as different from another      The authors declare no conflict of interest.
study which has shown that fifty percent of
the dentists reported incorrectly that the most           AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
popular desensitizing ingredients in desensitizing
toothpastes are fluoride compounds [8].                   EB: conception and design of the study, acquisition of data,
Almost two-thirds of the participants in our study        analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the article, final
were able to recognize the etiology of different types    approval of the version to be submitted. SS: drafting the article,
of dental wear (as abrasion, abfraction, and erosion).    revising the article critically for important intellectual content.
Less than half of the young dentists and almost half      AG: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data.
of the dental students obtained a good result in          IN: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data.
identifying some of the main characteristics of DH.       GP: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data.
The mean global score of the questionnaire proved         SA: conception and design of the study, revising the article
that subjects had an overall average level of             critically for important intellectual content, final approval of the
knowledge of dentin hypersensitivity. No participant      version to be submitted.
obtained the maximum score or a score zero.
The null-hypothesis was rejected. There were multiple     ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
results with statistically significant differences (p <
0.05) between the two groups. This demonstrates           The authors would like to thank all participants in the study who
that young dentists have a higher level of knowledge      provided their fullest cooperation.
of DH when comparing to the students. We believe
that the differences between groups are explained




Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3): 175-183                                              pISSN 2360-2406; eISSN 2502-0285                    181
                    Bologa E, et al.
www.stomaeduj.com



                    REFERENCES
Original Articles
                    1. Kopycka-Kedzierawski DT, Meyerowitz C, Litaker MS, et al.          11. Machado AC, Rabelo FEM, Maximiano V, et al. Effect of in-
                    Management of Dentin Hypersensitivity by National Dental              office desensitizers containing calcium and phosphate on dentin
                    Practice-Based Research Network practitioners: Results from a         permeability and tubule occlusion. J Dent. 2019;86:53–9. doi:
                    questionnaire administered prior to initiation of a clinical study    10.1016/j.jdent.2019.05.025
                    on this topic. BMC Oral Health. 2017;17:41. doi: 10.1186/s12903-      [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus
                    017-0334-0                                                            12. Bekes K, John MT, Schaller HG, Hirsch C. Oral health-related
                    [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS                  quality of life in patients seeking care for dentin hypersensitivity.
                    2. Benoist FL, Ndiaye FG, Faye B, et al. Knowledge of and             J Oral Rehabil. 2009;36(1):45–51. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-
                    management attitude regarding dentin hypersensitivity among           2842.2008.01901.x
                    dentists from a West African country. J Contemp Dent Pract.           [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar ScopusWoS
                    2014;15(1):86–91. doi: 10.5005/jp-journals-10024-1493                 13. Boynton PM, Greenhalgh T. Hands-on guide to questionnaire
                    [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus                      research: Selecting, designing, and developing your
                    3. Nazir MA, Almas K, Majeed MI, Majeed A, Ahmed SZ. A cross          questionnaire. BMJ. 2004;328(7451):1312–1315. doi: 10.1136/
                    sectional study of dentin hypersensitivity among dental students      bmj.328.7451.1312
                    and interns. J Int Dent Med Res. 2018;11(2):376–382.                  [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS
                    [Full text links] Google Scholar Scopus                               14. Schuurs AHB, Wesselink PR, Eijkman MAJ, Duivenvoorden HJ.
                    4. Amarasena N, Spencer J, Ou Y, Brennan D. Dentine                   Dentists’ views on cervical hypersensitivity and their knowledge
                    hypersensitivity in a private practice patient population in          of its treatment. Dent Traumatol. 1995;11(5):240–244. doi:
                    Australia. J Oral Rehabil. 2011;38(1):52–60. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-     10.1111/j.1600-9657.1995.tb00496.x
                    2842.2010.02132.x                                                     [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS
                    [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS                  15. Gillam DG, Bulman JS, Eijkman MAJ, Newman HN. Dentists’
                    5. West NX. Dentine hypersensitivity: Preventive and therapeutic      perceptions of dentine hypersensitivity and knowledge
                    approaches to treatment. Periodontol 2000. 2008;48(1):31–41. doi:     of its treatment. J Oral Rehabil. 2002;29(3):219–225. doi:
                    10.1111/j.1600-0757.2008.00262.x                                      10.1046/j.1365-2842.2002.00812.x
                    [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS                  [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS
                    6. Holland GR, Narhi MN, Addy M, Gangarosa L, Orchardson R.           16. Tsang S, Royse CF, Terkawi AS. Guidelines for developing,
                    Guidelines for the design and conduct of clinical trials on dentine   translating, and validating a questionnaire in perioperative and
                    hypersensitivity. J Clin Periodontol. 1997;24(11):808–813. doi:       pain medicine. Saudi J Anesth. 2017;11(5):80–9. doi: 10.4103/sja.
                    10.1111/j.1600-051x.1997.tb01194.x                                    SJA_203_17
                    [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS                  [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS
                    7. Gillam DG, Seo HS, Bulman JS, Newman HN. Perceptions               17. Pereira R, Gillam D, Bapatla S, Satyamurthy P. Awareness of
                    of dentine hypersensitivity in a general practice population.         Dentine Hypersensitivity among General Dental Practitioners in
                    J Oral Rehabil. 1999;26(9):710–714. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-              Mumbai, India. J Odontol. 2018;2(1):1–6.
                    2842.1999.00436.x.                                                    [Full text links] Google Scholar
                    [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS                  18. Gillam DG. Treatment Modalities for Dentin Hypersensitivity.
                    8. Canadian Advisory Board on Dentin Hypersensitivity.                In: Taha S, Clarkson BH, editors. Clinician’s Guide to the Diagnosis
                    Consensus-Based Recommendations for the Diagnosis and                 and Management of Tooth Sensitivity. First ed. Heidelberg:
                    Management. J Can Dent Assoc. 2003;69(4):221–226.                     Springer; 2014. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-45164-5
                    [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus                      Google Scholar
                    9. Majeed A, Alshwaimi E, Nazir MA, Almas K. Dental Students’         19. Amarasena N, Spencer J, Ou Y, Brennan D. Dentine
                    Perception of Dentine Hypersensitivity and Awareness about its        hypersensitivity - Australian dentists’ perspective. Aust Dent J.
                    Management. J Clin Diagnostic Res. 2019;13(8):ZC15–ZC19.              2010;55(2):181–187. doi: 10.1111/j.1834-7819.2010.01223.x
                    [Full text links]                                                     [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS
                    10. Lima TC, Vieira-Barbosa NM, Grasielle de Sá Azevedo C, et al.     20. Cunha-cruz J, Wataha JC, Manning W, et al. Treating Dentin
                    Oral Health-Related Quality of Life Before and After Treatment        Hypersensitivity: Therapeutic Choices Made by Dentists of the
                    of Dentin Hypersensitivity With Cyanoacrylate and Laser. J            Northwest PRECEDENT Network. JADA. 2010;141(9):1097–1105.
                    Periodontol. 2017;88(2):166–172. doi: 10.1902/jop.2016.160216         doi: 10.14219/jada.archive.2010.0340
                    [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS                  [Full text links] [PubMed] Google Scholar Scopus WoS




                                                                                                                 Emilia BOLOGA
                                                                                                             DDS, PhD Student
                                                         Department of Odontology Periodontology and Fixed Prosthodontics
                                                                                                    Faculty of Dental Medicine
                                                               "Grigore T. Popa" University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Jassy
                                                                                                                Jassy, Romania


                    CV
                    Emilia Bologa, DDS, received her degree in dentistry in 2014 from the „Gr. T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Jassy.
                    Dr. Bologa is currently a PhD student at the Department of Odontology, Periodontology and Fixed Prosthodontics, Faculty of
                    Dental Medicine, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Jassy, Jassy, Romania. She is a young researcher
                    whose area of interest includes dentin hypersensitivity and remineralization strategies.




  182               Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3): 175-183                                                          pISSN 2360-2406; eISSN 2502-0285
Knowledge about dentin hypersensitivity
                                                                                                                                      www.stomaeduj.com




Questions




                                                                                                                                      Original Articles
1. Dentin hypersensitivity is described as:
qa. A diffuse pain;
qb. A pulsating pain;
qc. A short, sharp pain;
qd. An aching pain.

2. Patients with sensitive teeth experience discomfort while:
qa. Flossing;
qb. Jogging;
qc. Sleeping;
qd. Brushing their teeth.

3. According to the results of this study, which percentage of participants have been able
to give examples of desensitizing toothpastes?
qa. 88.5%;
qb. 95.8%;
qc. 15.8%;
qd. None.

4. What did the mean global score of the questionnaire prove?
qa. Subjects had a very good level of knowledge;
qb. Subjects had a good level of knowledge;
qc. Subjects had an average level of knowledge;
qd. Subjects had an insufficient level of knowledge.




      https://accademiaitalianadiconservativa.it/en/events/22nd-annual-congress-360-tooth-challange-crown-down-treatment-solutions/




Stoma Edu J. 2020;7(3): 175-183                                                          pISSN 2360-2406; eISSN 2502-0285             183