Dental Health Magazine Dental Health Magazine Issue 7 | Page 18

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Issue #7, September 2017
Issue #7, September2017
What Exactly is
Tooth Sensitivity?
First of all, how do
you differentiate
sensitivity (also known
as hypersensitivity) of
your teeth from dental
decay? It’s not as
straightforward as you
think, the best way is
to consult your dentist
to make sure it is not a
decay, and to rule out all
other dental diseases.
What you see in local
TV commercials when
they mention sensitivity
of the teeth is actually
referring to “Dentine
Hypersensitivity”.
You may
ask, what is
dentine?
You don’t really need to brush your teeth.
Just the ones you want to keep.
- FRIENDLY MESSAGE FROM DENTALHEALTH MAGAZINE
Dentine is the second layer of your teeth, which is surrounded by the
outermost layer of your teeth called the enamel. In “healthy” teeth, your
dentine is completely covered by the enamel except for your teeth’s roots.
The enamel is harder & denser than your dentine in general.
“Dentine hypersensitivity is characterised by short, sharp pains arising
typically when thermal, evaporative, mechanical or osmotic stimuli are
applied to the exposed dentin that cannot be explained by any other form
of dental defect or pathology.”
Exposed dentin in the neck area of the tooth accounts for most of the cases
diagnosed as dentine sensitivity.
Article written by
Dr. Nicholas Yap - DDS (Mahsa)
Dr. Ng Rou Hui - DDS (Mahsa)
Proofread by
Hong Zhang (Mahsa)
Source: dentistsnearby.com
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