Assessment of Cervical Abrasion, Dentin Hypersensitivity, and Its Treatment Needs Using the Cervical Abrasion Index of Treatment Needs Probe

Objective This study was intended to compare the mean buccolingual measurement of abraded teeth with/without sensitivity. The hypothesis was that the suggested treatment approaches would be in agreement with that of the treatment needs (TN) elicited using the Cervical Abrasion Index of Treatment Needs (CAITN) probe and aid in the development of a prospective CAITN index for clinical/community studies of effective therapeutic measures. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was carried out on 30 individuals with a mean age of 48.4±12.54 years, comprising 840 teeth with/without cervical abrasion. The buccolingual measurement of each tooth was recorded using the CAITN probe. The response to air-blast was assessed by a short blast of one-second duration at a distance of 1 cm for each tooth. An endodontist was also asked to indicate the treatment methods used by him for the treatment of abrasions. His opinions regarding the TN were later compared with the data collected by an investigator. Results The mean buccolingual measurements of all the teeth were compared with the dentinal sensitivity using the independent t-test and were statistically highly significant. Furthermore, one-way analysis of variance disclosed that there was a statistically highly significant difference found for all the TN (p<0.01) such as none, preventive, basic, and advanced restorative TN followed by Tukey honestly significant difference post hoc tests for multiple pair-wise comparisons. The running receiver operator characteristic curve discloses the best cut-off value of the buccolingual measurement to predict the various categories of TN of each tooth. As the area under the curve is more close to 1 (noticed in the majority of the teeth in the sample), the model predicts the TN more precisely based on the buccolingual measurements. Conclusion The present study enables a correct diagnosis of cervical abrasions and determines the various TN with the most appropriate restorative material. These baseline data help to design clinical studies that test relevant treatment and diagnostic strategies.