Dental Caries Definition

Dental Caries Definition

The World Health Organization defines dental caries as a "localized, post-eruptive, pathological process of external orogin involving softening of the hard tooth tissue and proceeding to the formation of a cavity".[1]

According to Wilkins, dental caries is a disease of the dental calcified structures (enamel, dentin and cementum) which is characterized by decalcification of the mineral components and dissolution of the organic matrix.[2]

Dental caries has afflicted mankind to some degree since hunting and gathering were replaced by agriculture as the primary source of food. [3] Early in history, attrition and root surface caries seemed to predominate. There is historic evidence of the prominence of root surface decay in the Egyptians dating back at least 6000 years.[4]

Frequently the crowns of teeth were found to be free of caries, but root surface involvement was present. The prevalence was also found to increase proportionally with the age of the individual. It was not until the seventeenth century that the prevalence of enamel caries actually increased. Refinement of the diet and the increased consumption of sugar are chiefly responsible for the pattern of caries as it has been known up through the 1970s.[3,5]

References :

[1] World Health Organization : 1972, The Etiology and Prevention of Dental Caries. WHO Technical Report Series, #494. Geneva, World Health Organization

[2] Wilkins, R.M., 1989, Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist, 6th Ed. Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger

[3] Moore, W.J., Corbett, M.E., 1971, The Distribution of dental caries in ancient British populations, I. Caries Res

[4] Leigh, R.W., 1931, Dental pathology of Indian tribes of varied environmental and food conditions. Am.J. Phys, Anthropol

[5] Young, W.O., Burt, B.A., Striffler, D.F., 1983, The epidemilogy of oral diseases. In Dentistry, Dental Practice, and the Community. 3rd Ed. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders