Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate how Brazilian dentists perceive and manage dentin hypersensitivity (DH) in their clinical routine. A 13-item questionnaire-based survey was developed and sent electronically to a convenience sample of dentists. The questionnaire assessed the personal and dental practice characteristics of the sample, the occurrence of DH in their daily clinical practice, and management strategies. The data were analyzed descriptively and together with the chi-square test (a = 0.05). A total of 353 responses were obtained from September 2017 to March 2018. Of all the respondents, 62% were females, 49.9% reported fewer than five years of dental practice, and 70.5% were self-identified as private practitioners. Most of the dentists reported an estimated frequency (30–60%) of patients with DH in their practice. The most frequently cited (91.79%) trigger of DH was air blast and/or scratching with a probe. The first-choice strategy to manage DH was a dentin desensitizer (48.16%). The number of years in clinical practice did not influence DH relapse frequency (p = 0.76) significantly, or consider DH treatment as a problem (p = 0.22). The present findings indicate that, regardless of clinical experience, dentists in Brazil still consider DH management a challenge in their daily dental practice. In addition, the results suggest that guidelines should be developed to disseminate the available knowledge regarding this condition in ways that may influence decision-making processes among practitioners.

Sports Dentistry (SD) acts in the prevention, maintenance and treatment of oral and facial injuries, as well as the collection and dissemination of information on dental trauma, beyond stimulus to research. Establishes as a duty for the dentist detect problems related to the athlete’s stomatognathic system. This essay is based on the provided data from the literature related to SD, including definition, practice areas and research fields. To discuss the data, six areas were categorized: shares in sports dentistry; oral health of athlete; sports-related dental implications; dental-facial trauma; face shields; and mouthguards. The analyzed data show that the SD is still an underexplored field of action by dentists, but it is expanding, despite not being recognized specialty by the Federal Council of Dentistry, but the Brazilian Academy of Sports Dentistry has been created with a mission to show the real importance of Dentistry in sport. The dentist should be part of the group of professionals associated with the athlete to perform periodic checks in order to ensure oral health which may contribute to athletes´performance. When impact occurs, however, it would be possible reduce the severity of the impact related to injuries, by using helmets, masks, goggles, face shields and mouthguard. Additionally, it is imperative that dentists, sports coaching, athletes, and professional who work with athletes be aware of the benefits of incorporating SD as an important academic and professional subject.

Este estudo avaliou o efeito de diferentes tipos de dispositivos de aplicação de carga na resistência à fratura de pré-molares superiores restaurados com resina composta. Sessenta pré-molares humanos receberam preparo mésio-ocluso-distal padronizado e as cavidades foram restauradas com resina composta. As amostras foram aleatoriamente divididas em 6 grupos (n=10). Carregamento de compressão foi realizado usando seis diferentes dispositivos metálicos de aplicação de carga: S2 e S6: esfera de 2 mm e 6 mm de diâmetro respectivamente; C2 e C6: cilindro de 2 mm e 6 mm de diâmetro respectivamente; WS: lâmina de faca e MAT: antagonista individualizado em metal. Os resultados foram submetidos à análise de variância e teste de Tukey (p<0,05). O modo de falha foi classificado em 4 níveis e estão apresentado em porcentagem. O dispositivo WS resultou em maior resistência a fratura de pré-molares que S6 e C6. Não houve diferença estatística entre os grupos MAT, C2, S2 e S6. Menor resistência foi verificada com o uso de S6 e C6. O dispositivo MAT resultou em menor número de falhas catastróficas enquanto nos grupos C2, S2 e WS essas falhas foram significativas. O tipo de dispositivo de aplicação de carga influenciou significativamente no comportamento do complexo dente-restauração durante o teste de resistência à fratura.

This in vitro study analyzed the effect of different load application devices on fracture resistance and failure mode of maxillary premolars restored with composite resin. Sixty human maxillary premolars received standardized mesio-occluso-distal cavity preparations and were restored with composite resin. The specimens were randomly divided into 6 groups (n=10). Compressive loading was applied using 6 different metallic devices: S2: 2-mm sphere; S6: 6-mm sphere; C2: 2-mm cylinder; C6: 6-mm cylinder; WS: wedge shape device; and MAT: individualized metallic antagonist tooth. Data were analyzed statistically using one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (α=0.05). The failure mode was recorded based on the 4 sequential levels. Statistical analysis revealed that WS presented significantly higher fracture resistance than S6 and C6. No significant difference was found among MAT, C2, S2 and S6. Sphere and cylinder with 6 mm were similar, with the lowest values of all groups. MAT presented the least number of catastrophic failures while C2, S2 and WS presented the highest. The type of load application device influences significantly the behavior of the teeth-restoration complex during mechanical fracture resistance test.