Dental caries from the past to the future: is it possible to reduce caries prevalence?

Abstract

Dental caries is a significant oral health issue encountered globally. Unlike bone tissue, dental tissue lacks the capacity for self-renewal, leading to the permanence of pathological changes in teeth. Dental caries is primarily the result of acid production by microorganisms that metabolise sugary foods, which demineralises tooth enamel. If left untreated, caries can progress beyond the enamel and damage the dentin and pulp tissue. The development and spread of dental caries is influenced by an individual’s dietary habits, oral hygiene practices and various socio-economic factors. Throughout history, dental decay has consistently posed a major health issue across both ancient and contemporary communities. The incidence of dental caries has been influenced by factors such as dietary preferences, oral hygiene routines, and shifts in societal lifestyles. In particular, increased consumption of fermentable carbohydrates significantly increases the risk of caries formation. Conversely, preventive measures such as fluoride applications and a balanced diet can substantially reduce the incidence of caries. Other factors impacting the risk of caries include the chemical composition of saliva, the individual’s general health and various medical conditions. Fluoride applications, healthy eating habits and regular dental visits stand out as effective methods for preventing dental caries. Therefore, the success of dental caries prevention strategies depends on raising health awareness at the individual level and strengthening public health policies. This multifaceted approach will help to create healthier oral conditions for future generations.

Keywords

• dental caries
• dental anthropology
• diet
• dental anatomy
• caries prevalence

References

1. Mays S. The Archaeology of Human Bones. London: Routledge: 1998.
2. Larsen CS, Shavit R, Griffin MC. Dental Caries Evidence for Dietary Change: An Archaeological Context. In: Larsen CS, Kelley MA, eds. Advances in Dental Anthropology. New York: Wiley-Liss: 1991:179-202.
3. Hillson S. The current state of dental decay. In: Irish JD, Nelson GC, eds. Technique and Application in Dental Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2008:210-216.
4. Ding Y, Wang M, Fan Z, et al. Antimicrobial and anti-biofilm effect of Bacec on major bacteria associated with dental caries and Streptococcus mutans biofilms. Peptides. 2014; 52:61-67. doi: 10.1016/j.peptides.2013.12.014.
5. Soltysiak A. Comment: low dental caries rate in Neandertals: the result of diet or the oral flora composition. Homo. 2012;63(2):110-113.
6. DeWitte SN, Bekvalac J. Oral health and frailty in the medieval English cemetery of St Mary Graces. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2010;142(3):341-354.
7. Edwards EC. Pathology of the Hard Tissues of the Jaws. In: Rosen CJ, ed. Primer on the Metabolic Bone Diseases and Disorders of Mineral Metabolism. 7th ed. Washington, D.C.: The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research: 2008:501-505.
8. Caselitz P. Caries-Ancient Plague of Humankind. In: Alt KW, Rösing FW, Teschler-Nicola M, eds. Dental Anthropology: Fundamentals, Limits, and Prospects. Vienna: Springer-Verlag: 1998:203-226.

9. Hillson S. Dental Anthropology. New York: Cambridge University Press: 1998.
10. Hillson S. Dental Pathology. In: Katzenberg MA, Saunders SR, eds. Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. New York: Wiley-Liss: 2000:249-286.
11. Selig KR, Silcox MT. The largest and earliest known sample of dental caries in an extinct mammal (Mammalia, Euarchonta, Microsyops latidens) and its ecological implications. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):34504127. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-95330-x.
12. Klatsky M, Klatell JS. Anthropological studies in dental caries. J Dent Res. 1943;22(4):267-274.
13. Langsjoen O. Diseases of the Dentition. In: Aufderheide AC, Rodríguez-Martín C, Langsjoen O, eds. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Paleopathology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 1998:402-404.
14. Vargas-Ferreira F, Zeng J, Thomson WM, Peres MA, Demarco FF. Association between developmental defects of enamel and dental caries in schoolchildren. J Dent. 2014;42(5):540-546.
15. Kagihara LE, Niederhauser VP, Stark M. Assessment, management, and prevention of early childhood caries. J Am Acad Nurse Pract. 2009;21(1):1-10.
16. Campain AC, Morgan MV, Evans RW, et al. Sugar—starch combinations in food and the relationship to dental caries in low-risk adolescents. Eur J Oral Sci. 2003;111(4):316-325.
17. Afşin H. Adli Diş Hekimliği. İstanbul: Adli Tıp Kurumu Yayınları: 2004.
18. Brothwel DR. Teeth in earlier human populations. Proc Nutr Soc. 1959;18(1):59-65.
19. Güngör A. Neolitik dönemde beslenmenin insan morfolojisine yansımaları. Ankara Üniv Dil Tarih-Coğ Fak Derg. 1998;38(1-2):367-379.
20. Hillson S. Teeth. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press: 2005.
21. Kottak CP. Antropoloji: İnsan Çeşitliliğinin Önemi. 15th ed. Ankara: De Ki Basım Yayım: 2013.
22. Lanfranco LP, Eggers S. Caries Through Time: An Anthropological Overview. In: Li MY, ed. Contemporary Approach to Dental Caries. InTech: 2012:3-24.
23. Özbek M. Dişlerle Zamanda Yolculuk. Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Yayınları: 2007.
24. Scott GR. Dental Anthropology. In: Dulbecco R, ed. Encyclopedia of Human Biology Vol 1. 2nd ed. Academic Press; 1997.
25. Liebe-Harkort C. Exceptional rates of dental caries in a Scandinavian early iron age population—a study of dental pathology at Alvastra, Östergötland, Sweden. Int J Osteoarchaeol. 2012;22(2):168-184.
26. Bernal V, Novellino P, Gonzalez NG, Perez SI. Role of wild plant foods among late holocene hunter-gatherers from central and north Patagonia (South America): an approach from dental evidence. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2007;133(4):1047-1059.
27. Atamtürk D, Duyar İ. Resuloğlu erken tunç çağı topluluğunda ağız ve diş sağlığı. Hacettepe Üniv Edeb Fak Derg. 2010;27(1):33-52.
28. Zhang X, Dai J, Han YX, Shao JL. Prevalence profile of oral disease in ancient population. Open Anthropol J. 2010;3(1):12-15.
29. Moore W, Corbett E. The distribution of dental caries in ancient British populations. Caries Res. 1973;7(2):139-153.
30. Global Burden of Disease 2019 Results. Seattle: Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME); 2020. Available from: https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-results/. Accessed November 14, 2022.
31. GBD 2017 Oral Disorders Collaborators, Bernabe E, Marcenes W, et al. Global, regional, and national levels and trends in burden of oral conditions from 1990 to 2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease 2017 Study. J Dent Res. 2020;99(4):362-373. doi: 10.1177/0022034520908533
32. Kassebaum NJ, Bernabé E, Dahiya M, Bhandari B, Murray CJ, Marcenes W. Global burden of untreated caries: a systematic review and meta-regression. J Dent Res. 2015;94(5):650-658. doi: 10.1177/0022034515573272
33. World Health Organization. Global oral health status report: towards universal health coverage for oral health by 2030. 2022. ISBN 978-92-4-006148-4 (electronic version), ISBN 978-92-4-006149-1 (print version).
34. Beck JD. Risk revisited. Commun Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1998;26(4):220-225.
35. Brambilla E, Garcia-Goday F, Strohmenger L. Principles of diagnosis and treatment of high-caries-risk subjects. Dent Clin North Am. 2000;44(3):507-540.
36. Reich E, Lussi A, Newbrun E. Caries-risk assessment. Int Dent J. 1999;49(1):15-26.
37. Moynihan PJ. The role of diet and nutrition in the etiology and prevention of oral diseases. Bull World Health Organ. 2005;83(9):694-699.
38. Karabekiroğlu S, Ünlü N. The importance and role of early prevention practices in community-based preventive oral health programs. EÜ Diş Hek Fak Derg. 2017;38(2):89-100.
39. Stephan RM, Miller BF. A quantitative method for evaluating physical and chemical agents which modify production of acids in bacterial plaques on human teeth. J Dent Res. 1943;22(1):45-51.
40. Zhan L. Rebalancing the caries microbiome dysbiosis: targeted treatment and sugar alcohols. Adv Dent Res. 2018;29(1):110-116.
41. Marthaler T. Changes in the prevalence of dental caries: how much can be attributed to changes in diet? Caries Res. 1990;24(Suppl 1):3-25.
42. Islam B, Khan SN, Khan AU. Dental caries: from infection to prevention. Med Sci Monit. 2007;13(11):RA196-RA203.
43. Touger-Decker R, Van Loveren C. Sugars and dental caries. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003;78(4):881S-892S.
44. Locker D. Deprivation and oral health: a review. Commun Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2000;28(3):161-169.
45. Weintraub JA. Prevention of early childhood caries: a public health perspective. Commun Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1998;26(1 Suppl):62-66.
46. Ismail AI. Prevention of early childhood caries. Commun Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1998;26(1 Suppl):49-61.
47. Brown LJ, Wall TP, Lazar V. Trends in untreated caries in permanent teeth of children 6 to 18 years old. J Am Dent Assoc. 1999;130(11):1637-1644.
48. Usmen E. Prevalence of dental caries among primary school children in Ankara and its surrounding villages and some related factors. İstanbul Univ Diş Hek Fak Derg. 1972;6(4):384-401.
49. Reich E, Lussi A, Newbrun E. Caries-risk assessment. Int Dent J. 1999;49(1):15-26.
50. Fontana M, Zero DT. Assessing patients’ caries risk. J Am Dent Assoc. 2006;137(9):1231-1239.
51. Anil S, Anand PS. Early childhood caries: prevalence, risk factors, and prevention. Front Pediatr. 2017;5:157. doi: 10.3389/fped.2017.00157
52. Amerongen AN, Veerman EC. Saliva–the defender of the oral cavity. Oral Dis. 2002;8(1):12-22.
53. Tinanoff N, Douglass JM. Clinical decision-making for caries management in primary teeth. J Dent Educ. 2001;65(10):1133-1142.
54. Zandona AF, Longbottom C. Detection and assessment of dental caries. Springer Nature: 2019.
55. Umemori S, Tonami K, Nitta H, Mataki S, Araki K. The possibility of digital imaging in the diagnosis of occlusal caries. Int J Dent. 2010;2010:860515. doi: 10.1155/2010/860515
56. Sturdevant CM. Art and Science of Operative Dentistry. 7th ed. Elsevier: 2017.
57. Aren G, Çayırcı M. Traditional caries detection methods. Turkiye Klin J Pediatr Dent Special Topics. 2019;5(3):1-5.
58. Brown LJ, Lazar V. The economic state of dentistry. Demand-side trends. J Am Dent Assoc. 1998;129(12):1685-1691.
59. Ashkenazi M, Bidoosi M, Levin L. Effect of preventive oral hygiene measures on the development of new carious lesions. Oral Health Prev Dent. 2014;12(1):61-69.
60. Ogaard B, Seppa L, Rolla G. Professional topical fluoride applications - clinical efficacy and mechanism of action. Adv Dent Res. 1994;8(2):190-201.
61. Kaminsky L, Mahony M, Leach J, Melius J, Jo Miller M. Fluoride: benefits and risks of exposure. Crit Rev Oral Biol Med. 1990;1(4):261-281.
62. Tamer MN, Kale Köroğlu B, Arslan C, et al. Osteosclerosis due to endemic fluorosis. Sci Total Environ. 2007;373(1):43-48.
63. Küçükeşmen Ç, Sönmez H. Evaluation of fluoride’s effects on the human body and teeth in dentistry. SDÜ Tıp Fak Derg. 2008;15(3):43-53.
64. Beltrán-Aguilar ED, Goldstein JW, Lockwood SA. Fluoride varnishes: a review of their clinical use, cariostatic mechanism, efficacy and safety. J Am Dent Assoc. 2000;131(5):589-596.
65. Gibson S, Williams S. Dental caries in pre-school children: association with social class, toothbrushing habit and consumption of sugars and sugar-containing foods. Caries Res. 1999;33(2):101-113.
66. Bibby BG. The symposium on nutrition in tooth formation and dental caries. J Am Med Assoc. 1961;117:304-321.
67. Featherstone JDB. The continuum of dental caries—evidence for a dynamic disease process. J Dent Res. 2004;83(Spec Iss C):39-42.
68. Van Loveren C. Diet and dental caries: cariogenicity may depend more on oral hygiene using fluorides than on diet or type of carbohydrates. Eur J Paediatr Dent. 2000;1(2):55-62.
69. Güngör K, Tüter G, Bal B. Evaluation of the relationship between education level and oral health. Gazi Univ J Dent Fac. 1999;16:15-20.
70. Öztunç H, Haytaç MC, Özmeriç N, et al. Evaluation of oral and dental health status of children aged 6-11 years in Adana. Gazi Univ J Dent Fac. 2000;17:1-6.
71. Tulunoğlu Ö, Bodur H, Akal N. Evaluation of the effect of family education level on oral and dental health practices in preschool children. Gazi Univ J Dent Fac. 1999;16:27-32.