Dentin hypersensitivity (DH,[4]DHS[5]) is dental pain which is sharp in character and of short duration, arising from exposed dentin surfaces in response to stimuli, typically thermal, evaporative, tactile, osmotic, chemical or electrical; and which cannot be ascribed to any other dental disease.[5][3][6][7]
A degree of dentin sensitivity is normal, but pain is not usually experienced in everyday activities like drinking a cooled drink. Therefore, although the terms dentin sensitivity and sensitive dentin are used interchangeably to refer to dental hypersensitivity,[3] the latter term is the more accurate.
^Canadian Advisory Board on Dentin Hypersensitivity (2003). "Consensus-based recommendations for the diagnosis and management of dentin hypersensitivity". Journal of the Canadian Dental Association. 69 (4): 221–226. PMID12662460.