Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr.Ghada Maghaireh
(Lecture Outline)
Diet is one of the most important factors that contribute to the development of
dental caries.
Fermentable carbohydrates and a cariogenic plaque need to be present on a
tooth surface for acid to form.
The acid is produced by bacterial metabolism of the carbohydrate substrate.
There has been a vast amount of experimental work linking fermentable
carbohydrates and dental caries.
The process is well illustrated by the Stephan curve (Graphical representation
of change n plaque pH over time).
Stephan’s Curve
pH Changes Following Sugar Ingestion
A single sucrose rinse , lasting for seconds, can cause demineralization that
can last between 20 minutes and several hours.
Following sucrose rinse, the plaque within an active cavity shows a greatest
fall in the pH.
Cariogenic Food
Foods that have the capacity to lower the pH of plaque below the critical
demineralzation level (pH 5.5 to 5.0) are considered acidogenic.
acidogenic.
Acidogenesis is a necessary condition for the development of caries, but it is
not the only condition.
Whether an acidogenic
acidogenic food is cariogenic or not will depend greatly on a
number of factors specific to the individual who eats it, namely, predominant
bacterial flora,
flora, flow rate and buffering capacity of saliva,
saliva, fluoride availability,
availability,
and individual immune factors.
factors.
The outcome will also depend on the quantity and frequency of food eaten.
Thus it is very hard to say whether an acidogenic food is cariogenic or not for a
particular patient, for much depends on those individual factors that are
quiet distinct from the nature of the food itself.
However, a non-acidogenic food must also be a non-cariogenic food.
In addition to the considerable shift from sucrose to HFCS and other syrup in
processed food, two other changes have taken place in sugar consumption
patterns since the early 20th century:
Midterm Exam
The Exam includes all the first 6 lectures including this lecture.
Thursday 7/4/2011 at 4:00.
10 H2, 10 H3, 10H4.