Effectiveness of a desensitizing dentifrice containing potassium nitrate 5% on cervical hypersensitivity of teeth: A randomized clinical trial

Cervical tooth hypersensitivity (CTH) is defined as a sharp pain of short term that occurs in dentin exposed to the oral environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a desensitizing toothpaste containing potassium nitrate (Sensodyne®) for relieving of CTH, when used locally or as tooth paste.
36 patients were enrolled in this study. They were randomly divided into three groups I) Tooth brushing without toothpaste, II) Local application of toothpaste containing potassium nitrate 5%, III) Tooth brushing with toothpaste containing potassium nitrate 5%. Assessment of CTH was done by evaporative (using air and water spray) and cold stimuli at baseline, 1, 3, and six weeks after the treatment. To compare pain changes over time, due to the interaction between the variables of the studied groups and time, one-way ANOVA was used at any time. Due to the difference of variance between groups to compare pairs of groups, Dunnett T3 test was used.
During the study period, no adverse event observed. In all three groups, pain decreased gradually. Local application of toothpaste had the most favorable effect on CTH. Therefore, when compared with that of the first group, the percentage reduction in pain were statistically significant (P=0.03).
Local application of toothpaste containing potassium nitrate as a desensitizing ingredient is a better choice for treatment of CTH than that of application with toothbrush.