Tooth sensitivity, a network issue?

Dental sensitivity is unique in that it is mediated by cells called odontoblasts, located in the dental pulp at the center of the tooth. According to hydrodynamic theory, the activation of odontoblastic processes is linked to the movement of fluids in the dentinal porosity induced by external stimuli. A new study conducted at the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Physics (LIPhy - CNRS/UGA) shows that this porosity has all the characteristics of a complex network. Far from functioning as independent sensors, odontoblasts could therefore, in theory, adopt collective behaviors that are very different from the simple sum of individual responses.