Dental decay is a chronic disease when by-products of bacterial fermentation of food carbohydrates cause local decomposition of tooth sensitive hard tissue.
This results in the destruction of hard tooth tissue and decay occurs. It is the most common chronic disease in the world that affects 80 percent of the total population. Decay is not equally common in all regions. Progression of the decay of the early tooth decomposition in the case of primary caries can be stopped and its damaged teeth completely restored if multiple factors leading to its occurrence were reduced. The highest decay risk group includes pupils. People over 30 years of age are included in this risk group in Lithuania. A representative survey of dental health and oral hygiene in Central European countries showed that even 81 percent of Lithuanian people do not care enough for their teeth. They said that to avoid dental decay they would have to visit their dentist more often to identify possible problems as early as possible and propose the necessary preventive measures. Interviewees say they should take more care of their teeth – not only brush them, but also use dental flosser, rinse with special liquid and more.
Decay formation is a continuous and sequential process involving a number of stages, ranging from small early caries spots, which become cavities over time. During each meal, the bacteria in our mouth break down the nutritive carbohydrates, which leads to the release of harmful acids. As acidity increases, the pH level decreases, resulting in demineralization of hard tissue. Teeth are under constant influence of demineralization and remineralisation processes and they are also affected by our eating and oral hygiene habits. Earlier decay – small white spots can occur if demineralization is faster than remineralisation. It is important that it is possible not only to prevent caries in the early stages by appropriate means, but also restore the damaged tooth. However, if you do not take a proper care, the teeth will continue to weaken, losing structural integrity until eventually decay develops. Fortunately, the ruthless progression of the disease during all its development stages is not inevitable.
