What a dentist checks for sensitive teeth: the examination, explained.
A dentist checking sensitive teeth is mostly looking for everything else the pain could be — decay, a crack, a leaking or broken filling, an inflamed nerve, inflamed gums — and for whatever has left the dentine exposed, such as acid wear or receding gums, using questions, a look with a mirror, a puff of air, a probe and, where needed, a cold test on a single tooth and X-rays12. If sensitivity is what remains once those are ruled out, you leave with a plan for the cause and a recommendation by active ingredient rather than by brand, because there is no published UK list of recommended pastes and the most recent look at what UK dentists use for the problem is a 2008 audit in Scottish general practices3. If the recommendation you are given is an active rather than a brand, S3 Sensitivity Science™ lists two of its actives at the levels used in the published studies: 5% potassium nitrate and 10% nano-hydroxyapatite solution.
What was checked38 peer-reviewed studies and reviews, NHS, NICE, Oral Health Foundation, British Society of Periodontology, General Dental Council and British National Formulary pages, and product information as published by S3
- Dentine sensitivity is a diagnosis of exclusion: two overviews of the diagnostic literature describe it as confirmed only once every other cause of the same pain has been ruled out, so most of a sensitivity check is a search for those other causes24.
- Even the tests a dentist relies on misclassify a share of teeth, which is why one appointment may not settle it5.
- Cracks often do not show on a standard X-ray, the Oral Health Foundation says, so "the X-ray was clear" is not the end of the question6.
- A UK dentist will almost certainly record a gum score at your check-up, but in a recent survey of UK general dental practitioners most said they did not score tooth wear with an index7.
- No survey of what UK dentists recommend for sensitive teeth has been published in recent years, so nobody can tell you which paste yours will suggest; S3 carries two actives a dentist may name, 5% potassium nitrate and 10% nano-hydroxyapatite solution, at the levels the published studies used.
Why is diagnosing sensitivity mostly ruling other things out?
Because the condition is defined by what it is not. The Canadian Advisory Board's definition, as quoted in a 2025 consensus from the Middle East and Africa funded by Haleon, describes a short, sharp pain arising from exposed dentine in response to a stimulus — cold or heat, a blast of air, touch, something sweet or acidic — that cannot be put down to any other dental defect or disease8. Two overviews of how the condition is diagnosed, both published in 2013, say it plainly: it is a diagnosis of exclusion, reached once every other condition that can produce the same pain has been eliminated24.
The list of look-alikes is long. One of those overviews names a cracked tooth, a chipped tooth, a fractured filling, decay on the crown or the root, soreness after recent dental work, a filling that leaks at its edge, an inflamed nerve, inflamed gums, tooth whitening and a kind of tooth pain with no dental cause at all, and does not claim the list is complete2. A 2019 review written for UK primary dental care makes the same point from the dentist's side of the chair: a definitive diagnosis is difficult because the symptoms people describe have several possible causes9. And there is no rulebook to settle it, because a 2020 overview for practitioners found no universally accepted guidelines for the differential diagnosis10. The Journal's page on why teeth become sensitive covers the usual routes to exposed dentine.
What that means in practice is uncomfortable. The 2013 overview of diagnosis in the dental office found only limited published evidence on how dentists actually do it, and what there was suggested they do not routinely examine for the condition or rule out other causes first, and may rely on what patients tell them4. The Canadian board wrote its 2003 recommendations partly because a survey of practitioners had shown confusion about diagnosis, and drew a simple algorithm to walk clinicians through it11. An Italian consensus panel's decision tree, published in 2022, starts the same way: check that the symptoms fit, treat any other cause, correct whatever is keeping the dentine exposed, and only then try a toothpaste at home12. Asked in a survey published in 2026, 36.5% of dental practitioners in France and 48.3% in Belgium said they felt confident diagnosing it13.
None of that is a reason to skip the appointment. It is the reason the appointment looks the way it does.
What will the dentist ask you?
About the pain first, then about you. The NHS lists the questions at an ordinary NHS appointment: whether you have symptoms inside your mouth such as pain or bleeding, how you look after your teeth and how often you brush, your general health and any medicines, and your diet and whether you smoke or drink alcohol1. NICE's guideline on dental check-ups asks the dental team, led by the dentist, to take comprehensive histories and carry out examinations at each oral health review, and to talk through the risk factors that affect your mouth14; the NHS check-up page adds problems you have had since your last visit and your teeth-cleaning habits15.
For sensitivity, the questions that carry most weight are about the trigger and the clock. A nerve that is inflamed tends to go on answering after the stimulus has stopped, and that has been measured with a clinician's timed cold test on one isolated tooth, which is not a test to copy at home: in a cross-sectional study of 60 adults, teeth diagnosed with a nerve inflammation that could still settle kept responding for about four to five seconds, and teeth with one that would not settle for six seconds or more16. That is why you will be asked how long the pain lasts once the cold has gone, whether it ever comes on by itself, and whether biting hurts. The guide to the pain pattern that tells sensitivity from something else goes through those patterns in detail.
The appointment runs on what you remember in the chair, so it helps to arrive with notes. Write down:
- Which teeth hurt, or which side, and whether it is one tooth or several.
- What sets it off: cold drinks, cold air, sweet things, acidic food, brushing or biting.
- How long it lasts once the trigger has gone, a moment or long enough to notice.
- Whether it has ever woken you, started with no trigger, or needed painkillers.
- When it began, and anything that happened around then: a new filling, whitening, a knock, a harder toothbrush.
- The toothpaste you use now and for how long, ideally with the tube in your bag.
- What you drink and snack on between meals, and how soon after eating you brush.
The last two items matter more than they look. For many people the paste was chosen in a shop: in an industry-funded interview study of 18 Australian adults with confirmed sensitivity, every participant who used a desensitising toothpaste had picked it themselves, and none had been screened for the condition by a dentist17. People also rarely raise it. In focus groups with 26 adults run by a UK team that included an author employed by Haleon, participants said dentists did not bring up sensitivity and they did not feel able to either, partly because they doubted a dentist could offer more than "just toothpaste"18. Saying the word "sensitive" at the start of the appointment is what sets the rest of this page in motion.
What happens in the chair, test by test?
A look, then a short series of small provocations, each aimed at a different possible cause. The NHS says the dental professional will look inside your mouth and check your lips and neck for signs of decay, gum disease and mouth cancer, and may use a metal probe, "a small device that gently blows air" and a small mirror, with X-rays if you need them1.
The air and the probe are the stimuli research on sensitivity has leaned on for decades: the 1997 guidelines for sensitivity trials name touch, cold and evaporative air as the stimuli to test with19. When a paste is being tested, each one becomes a score, as the page on how desensitising toothpastes are tested explains; in the chair the same tools find which tooth and which surface reacts, where the open channels in the dentine described in the Journal's page on dentine tubules reach the mouth. The scales used to record the reaction are good at different jobs. In a diagnostic accuracy study of 72 adults, five sensitivity scales scored between 0.729 and 0.750 for overall accuracy; the air-blast scale was best at not labelling a comfortable tooth as sensitive, and a simple numeric rating was best at not missing a sensitive one20.
A cold test on a single tooth asks a different question: does the nerve inside respond, and for how long. That is how a dentist tells a tooth that is merely exposed from one whose nerve is inflamed or no longer alive, and it is an imperfect instrument. A 2018 meta-analysis of 28 studies found the cold test more accurate than the heat test on every measure it reported, with heat the weakest of five pulp tests21. Pain also travels. In a clinical study of 64 patients with an inflamed nerve, healthy neighbouring teeth over-responded to temperature too, and settled only once the inflamed tooth had been treated, which is one reason you may point at the wrong tooth and a dentist may test several22. The page on teeth that hurt with both hot and cold covers what that pattern can mean.
The bite test and the light are for cracks, which a 2017 British Dental Journal review describes as commonly met in UK practice and a frequent diagnostic challenge23. Biting pain is not their commonest sign: in a US practice-based study of 2,858 back teeth with a visible crack, pain to cold was present in 37% and pain on biting in 16%24. A bite test that does not hurt does not clear the tooth, because in a 2025 practice-based study of 147 cracked back teeth not every cracked tooth responded to it, and most of them caused no symptoms at all25. The Oral Health Foundation says a dentist looking for a crack may shine a bright light or use a special dye, or recommend a detailed 3D scan6, and a 2021 paper for UK primary care calls spotting a possible fracture on examination essential to getting the diagnosis right26. The page on a single tooth that has turned sensitive sets the crack beside the other one-tooth causes.
Tapping the tooth, pressing on the gum over the root, checking that the nerve responds and taking X-rays are the other ways of ruling things out, according to the Middle East and Africa consensus funded by Haleon, which lists them beside shining light through the tooth8. X-rays show what the eye cannot: the Oral Health Foundation lists decay hidden under the enamel, infection at the root of a tooth and bone lost to gum disease27.
The table sets each step beside what it is for and what it cannot do. "May" is deliberate: no single guideline fixes the order or says every step happens at every visit10.
| Step | What the dentist does | What it looks for | What it can establish | What it cannot | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Questions and history | Asks about the pain, how you clean your teeth, your health and medicines, diet, smoking and alcohol | The trigger, how long the pain lasts, habits that wear enamel or gums | Which causes are likely, and how soon you need treatment | Why a particular tooth hurts: people describe the same pain in different ways | NHS1; NICE14; overview2 |
| Looking with a mirror and light | Checks teeth, gums, lips and neck | Decay, gum disease, worn surfaces, receding gums, broken fillings, mouth cancer | Causes that can be seen | Cracks too fine to see; decay hidden between teeth | NHS1; Oral Health Foundation6 |
| A puff of air | Directs a short blast of air at a tooth surface | Which surfaces react, and how strongly | Where exposed dentine is | Whether the nerve inside is healthy | Trial guidelines19; scale accuracy20 |
| The probe | Runs a metal probe over the tooth and along the gum line | Tender exposed dentine, soft or rough areas, gaps at fillings | Exposed or softened areas at the surface | Pain that starts inside the tooth | NHS1; trial guidelines19 |
| A cold test on one tooth | Applies cold to one tooth at a time and watches how long the response lasts | Whether the nerve responds, and whether the response lingers | A guide to a healthy, inflamed or unresponsive nerve | A certain answer: it misses about one tooth in five with a nerve problem and wrongly flags some healthy teeth | Pulp-test accuracy5; cold-response timing16 |
| A bite test, or a light shone through the tooth | Checks whether biting on the tooth hurts; uses a bright light or dye | Cracks | A likely crack | Every crack: some cracked teeth do not hurt on biting, and most cause no symptoms | Oral Health Foundation6; practice studies2524 |
| Tapping the tooth | Taps the tooth gently | Tenderness when the tooth is tapped | One of several checks used to exclude other conditions | A diagnosis on its own | Consensus funded by Haleon8 |
| X-rays | Takes small X-rays of a few teeth, when clinically needed | Decay under the enamel or between teeth, infection at the root, bone loss from gum disease | Causes the eye cannot see | Most cracks: a crack has to line up with the beam to show | Oral Health Foundation276 |
| The gum score (BPE) | Walks a probe with a ball end and a black band round the teeth in six sections of the mouth | Bleeding, hardened deposits, pocket depth, bone loss between roots | Whether fuller charting or gum treatment is needed | A diagnosis: it is for screening only and cannot track change after treatment | British Society of Periodontology28 |
| The wear score (BEWE) | Scores the worst-worn surface in each of six sections from 0 to 3 | Acid wear, abrasion and grinding wear | Whether wear is present, and roughly how much | Whether wear is getting worse; moderate wear is often missed | Guidance paper sponsored by a manufacturer29; UK validation30 |
| Checking fillings and the gum line | Looks at and feels the edges of fillings and the point where tooth meets gum | Leaking or broken fillings, recent work, notches worn at the gum line, receding gums | Causes a filling or gum treatment would address | On its own, whether the pain comes from a filling or the dentine next to it | Overview2; UK primary-care review9; Oral Health Foundation31 |
What are the wear and gum scores, and why do they matter for sensitivity?
They are two short codes a UK dentist may write in your notes, and they record the two findings most often seen alongside sensitive teeth: worn surfaces and gums that have drawn back or become diseased. In a cross-sectional study of 3,551 adults in seven European countries, funded by Haleon, sensitivity found on examination was associated with erosive tooth wear and with gum recession32. A 2026 systematic review of 21 clinical studies, with no such funding line in its record, found sensitivity in 42.1% of people with tooth wear against 18.7% of people without, and called the association consistent33.
The gum score is the Basic Periodontal Examination, or BPE, which the British Society of Periodontology first developed in 1986. The mouth is divided into six sections, and a thin probe with a ball end half a millimetre across and a black band from 3.5 mm to 5.5 mm is walked gently around the teeth in each; the worst finding in each section is recorded as a code from zero, healthy gums that do not bleed, to four, a pocket deeper than 5.5 mm, with an asterisk where the probe reaches between the roots of a back tooth28. The society says in so many words that the BPE is for screening and should not be used for diagnosis, and that it cannot show how gums respond to treatment28. It is close to universal: in a survey of 261 UK general dental practitioners, carried out in 2024 and published in 2026, 98.5% said they routinely used it7.
For sensitivity the gum score matters because gum disease and its treatment are one of the three groups UK management guidance divides patients into, beside gum recession and tooth wear34, and because gums that shrink back leave dentine exposed31. A code of three or four means more detailed pocket charting and treatment to follow28, and on the NHS the cleaning can be done by a hygienist or dental therapist35.
The wear score is the Basic Erosive Wear Examination, or BEWE. In a guidance paper for dentists whose open-access fee was sponsored by a toothpaste manufacturer, each tooth surface is scored from no wear, through an early loss of surface texture, to a defect covering less than half of the surface or more than half; the worst surface in each of the six sections goes into the same grid as the gum score, and the section scores add up to a maximum of 1829. The same manufacturer-sponsored paper says a score of one is normal after the age of 20, that an examiner in doubt should choose the lower score, and that the index is not accurate enough to show whether wear is progressing29. The Journal's page on tooth enamel erosion explains what acid does to the surface being scored.
Recording wear is less routine than recording gums. A 2019 position paper from a UK stakeholder meeting, co-written by an employee of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, said erosive wear was not routinely screened for or monitored at the standard dental examination, and proposed the BEWE as a simple screening tool36. In the 2024 survey, 81.6% of the dentists said they assessed wear clinically, 29.8% said they scored it with an index, and 22.9% of the whole sample used the BEWE7. The score has measured limits too: tested against an established wear index in 164 adults at one UK general practice, it found severe wear well, found only 48.6% of cases of moderate to severe wear, and two examiners agreed with each other only moderately30. None of that means your wear goes unnoticed. It means you may have to ask whether it was written down.
What can the examination not settle?
More than most people expect, and the limits have been measured. Pulp tests misclassify a share of teeth: a 2022 systematic review found the cold test correctly identified 79% of teeth with a nerve problem and correctly cleared 82% of healthy ones, found the heat test weaker at 54% and 75%, rated none of the included studies as good quality, and advised against using either as the main test on its own5. That is why a dentist may repeat a test, try the teeth on either side, or ask you back.
A clear X-ray is not a clear tooth. The Oral Health Foundation says cracks often do not show on standard X-rays because the crack has to line up exactly with the beam, although one that has been there for some time may show as bone loss around the root6. So "the X-ray was clear" is not the end of the question if a tooth keeps hurting when you bite.
What you notice and what a dentist finds do not always line up. In a 2019 cross-sectional study of 380 dental-clinic patients, 41.7% said they had sensitive teeth, while examination found dentine hypersensitivity in 88.7%37. The overview that calls the condition a diagnosis of exclusion notes that the cause of the pain people report varies and that their descriptions differ from one person to the next, and says that on its own this does not allow a reliable diagnosis2.
A second look is part of the method rather than a sign that the first one failed. The Italian consensus decision tree ends with it: if symptoms persist after home care and a treatment in the surgery, the examination and the history are repeated12. The page on how long to try a sensitivity toothpaste before seeing a dentist covers the clocks for going back.
What might you leave with?
A plan aimed at what the examination found, and sometimes a treatment on the day. On the Oral Health Foundation's own list, the options open to a dentist are a desensitising treatment put on the tooth, a high-fluoride toothpaste, a filling placed over worn areas close to the gums, and treatment for gum disease or whatever else lies behind the pain31. UK management guidance for dental teams divides the plan by how the dentine came to be exposed and says one strategy cannot suit everyone34, and a 2017 review for general practice adds that there does not appear to be one ideal desensitising agent to recommend, and that treatment succeeds when the dental team and the patient work on habits together38.
The table gives the usual findings, what may follow, the NHS charge band in England as the NHS charges page showed it on 10 September 2026 (charges change, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own), and the evidence or guidance behind each line35. S3 has one row in the table, with its declared levels and the basis they are stated on: inclusion levels of the ingredient as supplied, with a lower active hydroxyapatite content, and S3 states both. The page on free and low-cost NHS dental options explains the bands.
| Finding | What a dentist may do or recommend | NHS band in England (read 10 September 2026) | Evidence or guidance note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exposed dentine, with nothing else found | Advice on brushing and diet, and a toothpaste chosen by active ingredient | Band 1, £27.90: examination, assessment and advice | A 2026 network meta-analysis of 93 randomised trials rated stannous fluoride's two-week effect high confidence, nano-hydroxyapatite moderate (two trials), arginine and potassium low39; the Oral Health Foundation names potassium citrate, potassium nitrate and stannous fluoride31 |
| One paste in that line: S3 | 5% potassium nitrate, 10% nano-hydroxyapatite and 5% biomimetic hydroxyapatite (both hydroxyapatites as solution, inclusion levels as supplied; the active content is lower), with 1450 ppm fluoride | No NHS band: a toothpaste you buy | No practice survey records how often any dentist recommends it; no trial has tested this combination; it contains no stannous fluoride |
| Acid wear | Advice on acidic food and drink and on waiting before brushing; wear recorded in your notes | Band 1, £27.90 | Guidance: wait at least an hour after acidic food or drink before brushing40; the wear score cannot measure progression, says a guidance paper sponsored by a manufacturer29 |
| Receding gums | A soft brush and gentle, small circular brushing; gum treatment if gum disease is part of it | Band 1 for advice and simple scaling; Band 2, £76.60, for extensive gum treatment | Guidance: Oral Health Foundation31; NHS charges35 |
| Gum disease (a gum score of three or four) | Cleaning above and below the gum line, often by a hygienist or dental therapist; detailed pocket charting; specialist referral for some | Band 1 when simple scaling is clinically needed; Band 2 for extensive treatment | Guidance: British Society of Periodontology28; NHS gum disease page41 |
| A worn notch near the gum line | A filling placed over the worn area | Band 2, £76.60 (fillings) | Guidance: Oral Health Foundation31 |
| A crack, decay or a failing filling | Bonding, a filling, a crown or root canal treatment, depending on how deep it goes | Band 2, £76.60, or Band 3, £332.10 (crowns) | Guidance: Oral Health Foundation6; NHS charges35 |
| Sensitivity that needs help within days | A desensitising treatment applied in the surgery | The NHS urgent treatment list, £27.90, includes treatment of sensitive teeth affecting the dentine or cementum | Systematic review of 74 randomised trials: in-surgery treatments reached significance within seven days42; network meta-analysis: most beat placebo, none could be ranked43 |
| A high risk of decay as well | A prescription toothpaste with 2,800 ppm or 5,000 ppm fluoride | Prescribed by the dentist | The British National Formulary lists these for preventing decay, not for sensitivity44 |
Treatments applied in the surgery are the route when a paste would take too long or has already failed a fair trial. A 2019 systematic review of 74 randomised trials grouped desensitising treatments by when they first made a significant difference: in-surgery treatments, among them a glutaraldehyde-based desensitiser, glass ionomer cements and laser, did so within seven days; stannous fluoride and hydroxyapatite within a month; and potassium nitrate, arginine and hydroxyapatite over the longer term42. A 2013 network meta-analysis of 40 studies found that most in-surgery treatment classes did better than placebo, that treatments aimed at the nerve did not reach significance, and that the uncertainty was too wide to rank one class above another43.
How long the effect of an in-surgery treatment lasts has been followed too, without an untreated group for comparison: in a six-month randomised trial of 42 adults and 192 teeth, four different in-surgery desensitisers each reduced sensitivity within seven to 15 days and kept it down for six months, and no agent was shown to be better than the others45. The guide to desensitising treatments at the dentist takes varnish, bonding agents and laser one by one. A dentist can also prescribe a stronger toothpaste: the British National Formulary lists 2,800 ppm and 5,000 ppm sodium fluoride toothpastes for preventing decay, prescribable by dentists44, and a cavity, a crack or a failing filling needs treatment in the chair whatever paste you use35.
If it is sensitivity, where does a paste like S3 fit in what the dentist recommends?
At the last step, as one option among several actives. A dentist who has ruled out a crack, decay, a failing filling and active gum disease, and has advice for whatever exposed the dentine, may then suggest a toothpaste, and a useful suggestion names an active, because that is the level at which the evidence is organised: the newest network meta-analysis, of 93 randomised trials, compares actives with a benchmark fluoride toothpaste at two weeks, not brands39.
S3 gives each active its own place to work: the nerve for potassium, the inside of the open channel for the nano-sized hydroxyapatite, and the enamel surface for the larger biomimetic kind. Its two headline levels, 5% potassium nitrate and 10% nano-hydroxyapatite solution, were set to match the inclusion levels in the published studies.
Here is what this page cannot tell you. No survey of what UK dentists recommend for sensitive teeth has been published since the 2008 Scottish audit, so nobody can tell you which paste your dentist will suggest, and nothing here is a prediction3. At two weeks, the best-evidenced desensitising active in the newest pooled analysis is stannous fluoride, rated high confidence, and S3 does not contain it39. Potassium, the nerve active S3 does carry, showed a small effect in the same analysis, rated low confidence and resting on a single contributing study for each estimate, and no trial has tested the combination S3 carries39.
That leaves a narrower statement you can check against the tube. If your dentist recommends potassium nitrate, S3 contains it at the level the trials used; if they recommend hydroxyapatite, S3 contains two forms of it with fluoride kept in; if they recommend stannous fluoride or a prescription-strength fluoride toothpaste, S3 is not that recommendation. The guide to what UK dentists recommend for sensitive teeth sets out which actives UK sources name and why the advice varies.
What do dentists actually recommend, and why is there no UK list?
Nobody has asked UK dentists recently, and where practitioners have been counted, the answer is an active and a route, not a brand. A PubMed search run for this page on 10 September 2026, for surveys, questionnaires or audits of UK dentists on dentine hypersensitivity, returned two records: a questionnaire answered by 181 UK dentists and published in 2002, and the audit in six Scottish general practices published in 2008463. In the 2002 survey 87.3% said they offered a range of in-surgery and shop-bought options rather than one answer46, and in the 2008 audit nine dentists were using four different regimens between them3. No survey of what UK dentists recommend has been published since, and what has been counted since was counted elsewhere.
In the largest count, 171 dentists in a US practice-based research network recorded what they advised for 1,862 patients, published in 2017: a potassium nitrate toothpaste for 50%, alone or with something else, and a fluoride varnish in the surgery for 28%47. In Greece, 76.4% of 191 dentists surveyed in 2019 said it was the patient, not the dentist, who started the conversation48; in Brazil, a dentine desensitiser was the first choice of 48.16% of 353 dentists surveyed in 202049. The guide to what UK dentists recommend takes those surveys one by one, with their limits.
Frequently asked questions
Will my dentist recommend S3?
This page cannot say, and no survey could tell you: nothing on what UK dentists recommend for sensitive teeth has been published since 20083. Where a dentist does suggest a paste, the useful suggestion is tied to the cause and names an active, and S3 carries two of the actives they may name, 5% potassium nitrate and 10% nano-hydroxyapatite solution. On the pooled evidence stannous fluoride has the strongest two-week record, rated high confidence in a 2026 network meta-analysis, and S3 does not contain it39.
Do the sensitivity tests hurt?
They are meant to provoke the tooth, so a sensitive one may twinge for a moment, and that brief reaction is the information being collected. This page found no measurement of how uncomfortable the tests are for patients, so it gives no figure. The NHS says to tell the dental team if you are anxious, and that you can ask them to stop or take a break at any time during a check-up1.
Will an X-ray show why my teeth are sensitive?
Not on its own. Dental X-rays show decay hidden under the enamel, infection at the root and bone loss from gum disease27, which are among the causes a dentist has to rule out; exposed dentine itself is found with a look, air and a probe. Cracks often do not show on standard X-rays, the Oral Health Foundation says, so a clear image does not rule one out6.
Can a hygienist check my sensitive teeth instead of a dentist?
A hygienist or dental therapist can see you without a referral from a dentist, as they have been able to since 2013, and must have arrangements to refer you to a dentist for treatment that only a dentist can provide50. If only one tooth is affected or the pain came on suddenly, the Oral Health Foundation's advice is to see a dentist31. The page on whether a hygienist can help with sensitive teeth covers that appointment.
What should I write down before the appointment?
Which teeth hurt, what sets them off, how long the pain lasts once the trigger has gone, whether it has ever woken you or started by itself, whether biting hurts, when it began, and which toothpaste you use and for how long. Take the tube with you. The diagnosis is made by ruling other causes out, and your notes tell the dentist where to start looking2.
Where S3 sits
A dentist's first task with sensitive teeth is to rule out what is not sensitivity, and if sensitivity is what remains, what follows is a plan for the cause and an active ingredient, not a brand name. Hydroxyapatite occludes the open tubules and potassium calms the nerve, and neither does the other's job. S3 carries both, at the inclusion levels the published studies used: 5% potassium nitrate and 10% nano-hydroxyapatite solution.
S3 Sensitivity Science™ pairs potassium nitrate with two hydroxyapatites and adult-strength fluoride in one daily paste.
See the toothpasteS3 Sensitivity Science™ is a daily toothpaste that pairs 5% potassium nitrate, for the nerve, with nano-hydroxyapatite and biomimetic hydroxyapatite (10% and 5%, both as solution) and full adult-strength fluoride. Calm the nerve, strengthen the enamel surface, protect against further wear: those are the three actions the tube is built for. The formula is filed as patent-pending S3 Repair Technology™, UK application GB2604755.5. More than 20 UK dentists hold a stake in S3. Read more about S3.