What is known about the influence of dentine hypersensitivity on oral health-related quality of life?

OBJECTIVES: Oral health-related quality of life is a relatively new but rapidly growing concept in dentistry. It is an aspect of dental health addressing the patient’s perception of whether his/her current oral health status has an impact upon his/her actual quality of life. Dentine hypersensitivity (DHS), which is a common condition of transient tooth pain associated with a variety of exogenous stimuli, may disturb the patient during eating, drinking, toothbrushing and sometimes even breathing. The resulting restrictions on everyday activities can have an important effect on the patient’s quality of life. The aims of this paper were to consider the concept of oral health-related quality of life and to review and discuss the literature on oral health-related quality of life and DHS. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A PubMed literature research was conducted using the terms (“dentin sensitivity” [MeSH Terms] OR (“dentin” [All Fields] AND “sensitivity” [All Fields]) OR “dentin sensitivity” [All Fields]) AND ((“oral health” [MeSH Terms] OR (“oral” [All Fields] AND “health” [All Fields]) OR “oral health” [All Fields]) AND related [All Fields] AND (“quality of life” [MeSH Terms] OR (“quality” [All Fields] AND “life” [All Fields]) OR “quality of life” [All Fields])). Furthermore, a manual search was carried out. Any relevant work published presenting pertinent information about the described issue was considered for inclusion in the review. RESULTS: The combination of the search terms resulted in a list of only three titles. The few published studies convincingly demonstrated that oral health-related quality of life is negatively affected in patients suffering from DHS. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with sensitive teeth report substantial oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) impairment. Nevertheless, knowledge about the influence of DHS on oral health-related quality of life is incomplete and, therefore, needs further research. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Oral diseases can lead to physical, psychological and social disability. This paper shows that DHS can have a negative impact on the patients’ OHRQoL.