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 out there on what I sought out to find. That would be the relationship between calcium phosphate and carious lesions. I am familiar with the remineralization process of enamel, and so I decided my topic would appropriately be that calcium phosphate can prevent carious lesions by helping to remineralize the enamel. It was difficult to find material to support this topic. While researching, I came across numerous products that contain calcium phosphate and claim to what I would like it to do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Carious lesions don’t just develop over night. It is a process and it takes a long time, any where from six months to two years. Dental caries is a dynamic process characterized by alternating periods of demineralization and remineralization (Harris and Garcia-Godoy 45). Enamel is 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 will collapse forming a cavity. Remineralization is when those ions lost are redeposited in a demineralized area. It 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).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since calcium and phosphate are what is lost during demineralization, for the remineralization to occur we must replace these minerals. Saliva naturally contains calcium and phosphate (Winston 1580). Each person can have a different salivary concentration of these minerals. It was found that men have a higher concentration of salivary calcium than women (Sewon 917). There are any number 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.