Prevalence of Dentine Hypersensitivity among Adult Dental Patients in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania

Author(s): Lorna C Carneiro, Alex A Minja

Objective: To assess the prevalence of dentine hypersensitivity (DH) among adult patient’s attending public dental clinics in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania.

 Material and methods: This hospital based cross-sectional study assessed adults aged 18 years and above who attended public dental clinics in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania. Prevalence of DH was clinically assessed in relation to age, sex, tooth type, presence of tooth wear (TW) and gingival recession (GR). Analysis of data used the SPSS program with level of statistical significance set at p<0.05.

Result: The 323 participant’s age ranged between 18 and 72 years. Majority of participants were in age group 18 to 30 years (33.7%) and females (52.9%). The prevalence of clinically diagnosed DH was 46.4% (n=150) which had a similar prevalence to tooth wear (46.4%) and gingival recession (45.5%). DH statistically significantly increased with age, presence of tooth wear and presence of gingival recession (p<0.05). Teeth most diagnosed with DH were the first molars in the lower jaw (63.5%). Participants without tooth wear (OR=0.137; 95% CI 0.07 - 0.24) or gingival recession (OR=0.161; 95% CI 0.09 - 0.28) are less likely to have clinically diagnosed DH.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that prevalence of clinically diagnosed DH among subjects was common (46.4%) with first molars in lower jaw being most affected (63.5%). DH had a statistically significant increase with age, tooth wear and gingival recession however, logistic regression indicated that those without tooth wear or gingival recession were less likely to have DH.