PRIMER: Dental Caries Required Reading

Question 1

what is the main reason for the overall decline of caries worldwide over recent decades?

Answer 1

The daily use of fluoride toothpaste; the mode of action of such toothpastes is concerned with shifting the balance of the oral biofilm towardshealth.

Question 2

in most industrialized countries, what percent of children and the vast majority of adults are affected by dental caries?

Answer 2

60–90%

Question 3

What is considered to be the single most common chronic childhood disease, and its prevalence is thought to have increased recently in what ages of children worldwide?

Answer 3

• Dental caries
• 2–5years of age

Question 4

which county is the US was studied to show nearly 40% of its preschoolers had active caries in their primary teeth? what is the % of active caries in preschoolers throughout whole US?

Answer 4

• LA County
• 28%

Question 5

what is the DMF (Decayed, Missing and Filled) Index?

Answer 5

• a numerical count of affected teeth per individual col­lected at either the Tooth (DMFT) or tooth Surface level (DMFS).
• The count of DMFT for an individual or group records their caries experience (that is, the total of both current and past caries)

Question 6

When oral health topics were added to the ongoing Global Burden of Disease Study 18, oral diseases were found to be highly prevalent, affecting approximately how many people worldwide?

Answer 6

3.9billion

Question 7

Untreated caries in permanent teeth was the most prev­alent condition evaluated across all medical conditions, with a global prevalence of?

Answer 7

35% for all ages combined, with 2.4 billion people affected

Question 8

Untreated caries in primary teeth inchildren ranked what in prevalence and affects how many childrenworldwide?

Answer 8

• 10th
• 621million

Question 9

what is considered to be the main acid involved in caries formation?

Answer 9

lactic acid

Question 10

what bacterium in early studies of caries lesions were found in higher proportions and incidence than that of sound enamel? what bacterium was isolated from advanced lesions?

Answer 10

• Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcussobrinus
• lactobacilli

Question 11

The ecological plaque hypothesis has recently been developed further to reflect ?

Answer 11

the ability of some oral bacteria to adapt to acid stress during regular and prolonged conditions of low pH, termed the ‘extended caries ecological hypoth­
esis’

Question 12

The first element in assessing an individual for caries according to the ICCMS system is to determine patient­ level caries risk by?

Answer 12

taking a compre­hensive history asking a series of questions known to be associated with increased caries risk or caries protective factors

Question 13

The initial lesion (even when active) is managed through non­operative care using ??

Answer 13

remineralization ther­apy, involving behavioral changes and promotion of mineralization over demineralization, typically by using fluoride­ containing products

Question 14

The goal of non­invasive management of moderate lesions is to arrest further progression and regain lost minerals through two options which are?

Answer 14

• mechanical blocking: resin ­based fissure sealants
• fluorides: self­ applied and professionally applied fluor­ides can remineralize and arrest caries lesion