What causes tooth decay?
Four things are necessary for cavities to form – a tooth, bacteria, sugars or other carbohydrates, and time. Dental plaque is a thin, sticky, colorless deposit of bacteria that constantly forms on everyone’s teeth. When you eat, the sugars in your food cause the bacteria in plaque to produce acids that attack the tooth enamel. With time and repeated acid attacks, the enamel breaks down and a cavity forms.
. Four things are necessary for cavities to form — a tooth, bacteria, sugars or other carbohydrates and time. Dental plaque is a thin, sticky, colorless deposit of bacteria that constantly forms on everyone’s teeth. When you eat, the sugars in your food cause the bacteria in plaque to produce acids that attack the tooth enamel. With time and repeated acid attacks, the enamel breaks down and a cavity forms.
Dental caries (tooth decay) is a multifactorial disease process. Enamel, the mostly inorganic hard outer tooth layer, is dissolved (demineralized) by acids produced from sugars by plaque bacteria. Bacteria can more rapidly invade and eat away the inner dentin layer because it is softer and contains more organic material. The tooth surface is in a dynamic state of flux between demineralization (destruction) and remineralization (repair). Acid conditions (lower pH) favor the loss of calcium and phosphate from the tooth while neutral or alkaline (higher pH) conditions help to replace minerals. Individuals susceptible to tooth decay tend to have less buffering capacity against plaque acid. Their saliva pH tends to drop lower and recover more slowly. Demineralization predominates at lower pH, beginning at around 5.7. Thicker plaque helps to hold acid against teeth and leads to surface destruction that begins in localized sheltered areas. Tooth decay occurs at the intersection of the necessa
