Development of condition-specific scales for reporting the pain of dentine hypersensitivity

This chapter describes the development of labeled magnitude (LM) scales specifically designed for assessing the pain of dentine hypersensitivity (DH). Qualitative methods were first used to identify words that describe the pain of DH. Next, magnitude estimation was used to determine the position of these words by relative magnitude along four vertical LM scales. The LM scales were then compared to a standard 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS) by asking participants to use the scales to rate different pain scenarios or water applied to sensitive teeth. As expected, participants used a wider range along the LM scales compared with the VAS for rating scenarios involving low-level pain. Use of one of the four LM scales resulted in greater differences in pain reports compared with VAS when two different temperatures of water were applied to sensitive teeth. LM scales specifically designed to assess DH were thus shown to provide some advantages compared with standard VAS scales when used to evaluate DH-associated pain as well as scenarios involving other low-level pain conditions.