**2. Thermo-Sensitive Ion Channels**

Since the temperature-gated TRPV1 ion channel was first cloned from a subset of trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons [36,37], several members of the TRP superfamily have been discovered and proposed as potential molecular temperature sensors [38]. These TRP channels have been hypothesized to be key contributors for the keen sense of temperature in teeth, and the functional expression of TRP channels in dental primary afferent neurons and in odontoblasts has been massively investigated (Figure 2) [24,26].
