Dentistry :: essays research papers

I began this paper with certain ideas regarding the carries process. It is a known fact that fluoride helps to prevent carious lesions. Not a whole lot of studies or information is let on there on what I sought out to find. That would be the kind between calcium inorganic phosphate and carious lesions. I am well-known(prenominal) with the remineralization process of enamel, and so I decided my topic would appropriately be that calcium phosphate bum prevent carious lesions by aid to remineralize the enamel. It was difficult to find material to support this topic. While researching, I came crossways numerous products that contain calcium phosphate and claim to what I would alike it to do. Carious lesions dont just develop over night. It is a process and it takes a long time, any where from six months to two years. alveolar consonant caries is a dynamic process characterized by alternating periods of demineralization and remineralization (Harris and Garcia-Godoy 45). Enamel i s composed of densely packed hydroxyapatite crystals. The hydroxyapatite crystals are made up of tricalcium phosphate. During demineralization this is what is lost. Once enough of this mineral is lost, part of the tooth structure pull up stakes collapse forming a cavity. Remineralization is when those ions lost are redeposited in a demineralized area. It in all starts small. We have that wonderful acquired pellicle which is like fly paper for bacteria. When the bacteria accumulates a plaque is now present. The bacterial plaque will produce acids, which can eventually cause the enamel structure to collapse (Winston 1580). Since calcium and phosphate are what is lost during demineralization, for the remineralization to occur we must replace these minerals. Saliva of course contains calcium and phosphate (Winston 1580). Each person can have a different tonguery concentration of these minerals. It was found that men have a soaringer concentration of salivary calcium than women (Sew on 917). There are any numeral of factors that play hand in hand with a high level of salivary calcium. High calcium content of the saliva gives us a high rate of remineralization after initial demineralization. It was noted that the number of decayed, missing, or filled teeth was lower in patients with high salivary calcium (males). Some drawbacks to having this much mineral content in the saliva are more bleeding on probing. This is due to an increase in plaque. It was also found that this calcium rich plaque hardens very rapidly.