Dental caries.......

Dental caries or tooth decay is a pathological process of localized destruction of tooth tissues by micro-organisms. it is something of a paradox that teeth can be destroyed relatively, rapidly invivo and yet are almost indestructible post mortem. a few cases of caries have been found i the fossil teeth of prehistoric dinosaurs, mammals, reptiles. caries appears to have been evident in homosapiens since paleolithic times, but the incidence of caries increased during the neolithic time.

EARLY THEORIES OF CARIES ETIOLOGY:

• ancient Sumerian text- caries was caused by a worm that drank the blood of the teeth.
• humors-the ancient greeks considered that s persons physical and mental situation was determined by relative proportions of the four elemental fluids of the body-blood, phlegm, blackbile and yellow. caries was caused by the imbalance of these humors.
• vital theory
• chemical theory
• parasitic theory
• chemico-parasitic theory
• proteolytic theory
• proteolysis-chelation theory
• phosphate sequestration theory