A Real 3D Field of Dentinal Tubules
This is a genuine three-dimensional port of the Brannstrom hydrodynamic theory of dentin hypersensitivity: instead of one flat row of tubules, a 6×6 grid of tubules runs vertically through a full 3D block of dentin between the enamel/cementum surface and the pulp chamber, and you can freely orbit and zoom around it.
- Hydrodynamic mechanism: a thermal or mechanical stimulus at the exposed dentin surface shifts fluid inside open tubules, which mechanically displaces the odontoblast processes and nerve endings at the pulp end, triggering a sharp Aδ-fiber pain signal.
- Dentin Exposure: the fraction of tubules in the 3D grid whose surface opening is uncovered (gum recession / enamel wear) rather than sealed by intact enamel and cementum.
- Stimulus Intensity: drives the fluid-flow speed inside every open tubule once a stimulus is applied.
- Stimulus Type: cold contracts tubule fluid outward toward the surface; heat expands it inward toward the pulp — the two directions produce opposite particle motion in the 3D field.
Why the 3D version matters
The flat 2D cross-section can only show one line of tubules reacting at once. The 3D grid shows that hypersensitivity is a field effect — density and distribution of open tubules across a real area of exposed dentin, not just a single channel, and orbiting the block makes the surface cap (sealed vs. open) versus the pulp-side nerve response visible from any angle.