Dentin hypersensitivity is an abrupt intense pain caused by innocuous stimuli to exposed dentinal tubules. Mechanosensitive ion channels have been assessed in dental primary afferent neurons and odontoblasts to explain dentin hypersensitivity. Dentinal fluid dynamics evoked by various stimuli to exposed dentin cause mechanical stress to the structures underlying dentin. This review briefly discusses three hypotheses regarding dentin hypersensitivity and introduces recent findings on mechanosensitive ion channels expressed in the dental sensory system and discusses how the activation of these ion channels is involved in dentin hypersensitivity.

Dentin Hypersensitivity
    1. Neural theory
    2. Odontoblast transducer theory
    3. Hydrodynamic theory
Expression of Mechanosensitive Ion Channels in Dental Sensory System
    1. Mechanosensitive ion channel expression in dental primary afferent neurons
    2. Mechanosensitive ion channels in odontoblasts
Conclusions
References

• Jonghwa Won(Dental Research Institute and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University)
• Seog Bae Oh(Dental Research Institute and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Department of Neurobiology & Physiology, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University) Correspondence to