Cariology: Concepts, Terminologies, and Theories Flashcards
An infectious and transmissible disease caused by bacteria colonizing the tooth surfaces
Dental caries
Theory of dental caries that emerged during the 17th and 18th centuries and says that the teeth are destroyed by acids formed in the oral cavity by the fermentation process of food particles around the teeth
Chemical (Acid) Theory
What theory stated that microorganisms caused the carious process through their toxic and destructive effects of dental tissues?
Parasitic (Septic) Theory
In the parasitic theory, what are the filamentous microorganisms in the enamel cuticle and in carious lesions caused decomposition of the enamel and dentin?
Denticolae
Acidogenic theory suggested by Miller that states caries was caused by a variety of microorganisms and the acids they produced.
W.D. Miller’s Chemicoparasitic Theory
Theory that states the organic portion of the tooth plays an important role in development of caries.
Proteolytic theory
Bacterial destruction of the organic components of enamel and the breakdown of products of these components have chelating properties and thereby dissolve the minerals in the enamel even at the neutral/alkaline pH
Proteolysis Chelation Theory
Complex multifactorial diseases involving interactions among tooth structure, oral microbial biofilm, dietary carbohydrates, and salivary and genetic influences.
Dental Caries
Clinically referred to as dental plaque
Dental biofilm
A consortium of microorganisms embedded in an extracellular polymeric matrix that adhere to a tooth surface
Dental biofilm
Clinical sign of caries that can be categorized according to their anatomical location on the tooth, their severity, depth of penetration into the tissue, and their activity statues
Caries lesion
Substrates or microorganisms capable of promoting dental caries
Cariogenic
Substances or procedures capable of arresting dental caries
Cariostatic
Loss of tooth mineral due to acids
Demineralization
Net gain of mineral in previously demineralized tissue
Remineralization
pH at which a substance begins to demineralize
Critical pH
Caries with a prevalence of 34.1%
Untreated caries on permanent teeth
Caries with a prevalence of 7.8%
Untreated caries on deciuous teeth
Refers to caries in children under the age of six
Early childhood caries
Number/proportion of individuals with caries in a given population at a specific threshold, at a designated point in time
Caries prevalance
Number/proportion of individuals with new or progressing caries at a specified threshold in a given population, detected during a given period
Caries incidence
Number of teeth/surfaces that have caries lesions (at a specific threshold), accumulated by an individual, up to a designated point in time
Caries experience
Probability that caries lesions will appear or progress if conditions remain the same within a stated period of time
Caries ris
Probability that caries lesions will appear or progress if conditions remain the same within a stated period of time
Caries risk
Chronic diseases not passed from person to person
Non-communicable disease
Affected by the depth, extent, and shape of the anatomical grooves and fissures
Pit and Fissures
Usually begins just below the contact area for proximal caries and is preceded by the accumulation of dental plaque.
Smooth surface caries
Relatively rapid progression, usually asymptomatic, closer to the pulp, and difficult to restore
Root surface caries
Subsurface demineralization but with intact enamel surface
Incipient caries
Presence of visual breakdown on the tooth surface and requires restorative intevertion
Cavitated lesion
Dentinal caries found radiographically below apparently sound occlusal surface
Hidden caries
Caries lesion considered to be biologically active, and the tooth demineralization is in frank activity at the time of examination
Active caries lesion
Caries that has become static, showing no tendency for further progression
Inactive/Arrested caries
Eburnated dentin (harder, dark, brown)
Sclerotic dentin
Presence of extensive and multiple cavitated and active caries lesion on the same person, and typically used in association with ‘baby bottle caries’, ‘radiation therapy caries’, or ‘meth mouth caries’
Rampant caries
Initial location of the lesion is on the tooth surface and is not adjacent of an existing restoration or crown
Primary caries
Recurrent caries that occurs on the margins/walls of esisting tooth restorations
Secondary caries
Carious tissue that was not completely excavated prior to placing a restoration
Residual caries
Caries lesion in enamel, indicating that the lesion has not penetrated into dentin
Enamel caries
Caries lesion extending into dentin
Dentin caries
Father of operative dentistry and one of the founders of modern dentistry in the US
Greene Vardiman Black (GV Black)
Commonly the first type of caries to appear in the mouth, affecting the pits and fissures on occlusal surfaces of posterior teeth, lingual surfaces of Mx molars, Buccal surfaces of Md molars, and lingual pits of upper anterior teeth
Class I
Involves the proximal surfaces of posterior teeth, usually initiates just below contact area, and related to plaque accumulation in the non-self-cleansing areas
Class II
Involves the proximal surfaces of anterior teeth but without the involvement of the incisal angle
Class III
Affects the proximal surfaces of incisal angle of anterior teeth
Class IV
Caries affecting the cervical third of either the labial/buccal or lingual surfaces of any tooth
Class V
Simon’s modification; involved the cusp tip of posterior teeth or the incisal tip of anterior teeth
Class VI
