Diet in Relation to Dental Caries

Abstract

THE carious lesion in a tooth is caused by acid decomposition of the enamel, and afterwards the dentine, associated with proteolytic destruction of the organic substance of the tooth. Caries of the teeth is restricted to man and other animals which eat liberally of carbohydrate-containing foods. Carnivorous man and animals do not suffer from this disease. Dental caries does not attack the surfaces of teeth indiscriminately, but occurs only at such sites as favour the lodgment of food residues, as in pits or fissures, or on surfaces of the enamel which harbour mucinous plaques. In such sites acid is formed by fermentation of carbohydrate by micro-organisms, and is protected against being washed away by saliva or by neutralization by salivary alkalinity.