Prevalence of self-reported versus diagnosed dentinal hypersensitivity: a cross-sectional study and ROC curve analysis

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify and compare the self-reported and diagnosed prevalence of dentinal hypersensitivity (DH) in an University population; and to verify accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of DH stimuli tests. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three hundred and eighty patients (67.2% women and 32.8% men) were assessed by questionnaire, clinical exam, tactile and cold water tests. The intensity of DH was assessed using a visual analogue scale, and a calibrated examiner measured the scores using a caliper. The ICC for intra-examiner was 0.990. Scores above 5 mm were considered sensitive teeth. The association between variables was assessed by Chi-square test. ROC curve analysis determined accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the tests (p < .05). RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 24.08 years. 158 (41.7%) volunteers self-reported the presence of DH, while, 88.7% of the participants were clinically diagnosed (p = .023). In total, 8958 teeth were evaluated, of those 3367 (37.6%) were diagnosed sensitive. The most prevalent teeth with DH were incisors and premolars. The accuracy of the tests with cold water and tactile were 99%. The sensitivity and specificity for cold water and tactile tests were 99.9%, 99.7%, 99.1% and 87.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The self-reported prevalence of DH was significantly lower than that clinically diagnosed. The cold test proved to be a highly accurate stimulus for the diagnosis of DH.