clinical evaluation of the efficacy of neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet (nd: yag) laser therapy and sensikin® in treatment of dentine hypersensitivity

introduction: dentine hypersensitivity (dh) is characterized by a short sharp pain arising from the exposed dentine, in response to a thermal, evaporative, tactile, osmotic or chemical stimulus. the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of nd:yag laser therapy and desensitizing gel (sensikin®, laboratorios kin s.a., barcelona, spain) in treatment of dentine hypersensitivity. methods: a total of 20 patients with at least 6 hypersensitive teeth were selected and divided randomly into three groups: nd:yag laser (10 hz, 1w, 60 s, two times) treated group, sensikin® treated group and a control group. subjects were asked to apply the gel at home for the next week and 3 times a day as they were instructed. assessment of the pain was performed by visual analyzing scale (vas) after stimulation of the teeth by compressed air at 6 intervals: before treatment, immediately after treatment, one week, one, three and six months later. the data obtained were analyzed using the spss software, one way anova and repeated measurement anova tests. results: vas scores did not show any significant differences between the three groups prior to treatment (p value>0.05), but in all groups after treatment vas scores differed significantly in comparison to vas scores before treatment (pvalue<0.05). this statistically significant difference in the control group demonstrated a placebo effect. however, the efficacy between the three groups was not significantly different. an overall comparison indicated no significant differences at various time intervals. conclusion: nd:yag laser and desensitizing gel effectively reduce dh. however, we found no significant statistical differences between these two groups compared with the control group.