Probably no other disease is as common worldwide as caries or tooth decay. Only one percent of the population is considered completely free of caries. Caries starts at the enamel surface of the tooth and progresses in depth towards the dentin.
If not treated, caries can penetrate to the pulp and in the worst case lead to tooth loss. The tooth substance destroyed by caries cannot be reproduced or replaced by the body, so the carious lesion must be removed at a certain stage to restore the functionality of the affected tooth. But are there ways to prevent the development of caries and the progression of this disease and to take preventive measures?
Causes of caries formation
The number one cause of caries is poor oral hygiene. If you brush your teeth rarely or not carefully enough, you leave food residue inside the oral cavity. This gives the bacteria that naturally occur in the oral cavity a free hand to metabolize the leftover food into acids.
But why do patients with good oral hygiene still have a problem with caries? It can be seen that caries is influenced by several factors. If the enamel is genetically not optimally structured, then the tooth is much more susceptible and more prone to caries formation.
Diseases such as amelogenesis imperfecta or dentinogenesis imperfecta also favour the development of caries. Furthermore, saliva also plays a major role. One of the functions of saliva is to buffer the acids produced in the oral cavity through its integrated buffer systems and to neutralize the pH value.
In this way, low-viscosity saliva can neutralize the acid produced in the mouth by bacteria and minimize the risk of caries. The buffering capacity varies from patient to patient, i.e. some patients have more acid buffering capacity than others. If the amount of calcium salts in saliva is reduced, the risk of caries increases due to a reduced buffer function.
Furthermore, the amount of saliva production is also relevant. The average daily value of saliva production is between one and one and a half liters. Elderly patients with dry mouths or irradiated tumor patients often have a problem with increased caries formation due to the fact that the buffer function of the saliva is missing due to the reduced amount of saliva and the pH value therefore remains in the acidic range for a much longer time. This could also be of interest to you: Dry mouth – what to do?
