Caries, an all-too-often forgotten disease

Tooth decay is such a common problem for most people that few see it for what it is: a disease that affects our health, not just a black hole that hurts.

According to data from the Council of Dentists, caries affects between 92% and 94% of adults over 35 years of age. In addition, it is considered the second most prevalent disease in the world, since it depends on a series of factors for its development, such as the person himself, sugar, bacteria and time.

So what is tooth decay? It is a chemical reaction, bacteria produce acid by metabolizing the sugar from our diet that has been deposited on the teeth. This reaction produces enamel wear, acid corrosion, which we can compare to the acid rain that our rivers and forests suffer.

According to the latest studies, there are individual factors in each person that act as protectors against caries, for example saliva and tooth enamel. Saliva can have a buffering effect against acid, i.e. it can reduce acidity and protect teeth against caries. In the case of enamel, this can be more or less resistant to this acid, as its composition is determined by genetic inheritance.

What can we do? Fortunately, advances in dentistry allow us not only to effectively remedy caries, but also to know our risk factors through simple saliva analysis tests, and a test to analyze the concentration of Streptococcus mutans, the main bacteria responsible for the production of caries, which indicate whether we are prone or not to the appearance of caries.

According to Dr. Iñaki Cercadillo, director of the Ahoa Dental Clinic, “we propose to our patients to perform a caries risk analysis, as a measure of prevention and action. Knowing which of the factors involved, in this case saliva and bacteria, are favorable to the appearance of caries is important for decision making, and even more so for making our patients aware of factors such as diet and sugar intake”.