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Early childhood caries (ECC), also known as "baby bottle caries," "baby bottle tooth decay" or "bottle rot," is a pattern of decay found in young children with their deciduous (baby) teeth. This must include the presence of at least one carious lesion on a primary tooth in a child under the age of 6 years. [ 94 ]
It is a meticulously formed microbial community, that is organised to a particular structure and function. [12] Plaque is rich in species, given the fact that about 1000 different bacterial species have been recognised using modern techniques. [13] A clean tooth surface would immediately be colonised by salivary pellicles, which acts as an ...
Dental caries—Dental caries are known as cavities or tooth decay. Bacteria in the mouth use foods that contain sugar or starch to produce acids which eat away at the tooth’s structure causing destruction to the enamel of the teeth. Meanwhile, the minerals in saliva (calcium and phosphate) together with fluoride are repairing the enamel. [3]
The mouth contains a great number and variety of bacteria, and when sucrose, the most common of sugars, coats the surface of the mouth, some intraoral bacteria interact with it and form lactic acid, which decreases the pH in the mouth. [25] The critical pH for tooth enamel is generally accepted to be pH 5.5.
Tooth development begins at week 6 in utero, in the oral epithelium. The process is divided into three stages: Initiation; Morphogenesis and; Histogenesis [2]; At the end of week 7 i.u., localised proliferations of cells in the dental laminae form round and oval swellings known as tooth buds, which will eventually develop into mesenchymal cells and surround the enamel organ.
Different areas of the oral cavity present different ecological niches, and each species has specific properties for colonizing different oral sites. S. mutans is most prevalent on the pits and fissures, constituting 39% of the total streptococci in the oral cavity. Fewer S. mutans bacteria are found on the buccal surface (2–9%). [7]
Bacteria occupy the ecological niche provided by both the tooth surface and mucosal epithelium. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] Factors of note that have been found to affect the microbial colonization of the oral cavity include the pH, oxygen concentration and its availability at specific oral surfaces, mechanical forces acting upon oral surfaces, salivary and ...
The most commonly recognised bacteria that are responsible for initiating the biofilm formation that can eventually lead to caries are streptococcus mutans and lactobacillus. [15] The key factors for virulence include their ability to metabolise glucose and similar sugars, their tolerance for a low pH environment, and their acidogenicity. [ 16 ]