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Dental caries has a multifactorial aetiology in which there is an interplay of three principal factors: the host (saliva and teeth), the microflora (plaque), and the substrate (diet), and a fourth factor: time. There is no single test that takes into consideration all these factors and can accurately predict an individual's susceptibility to caries. The risk of dental caries can be evaluated by analysing and integrating several causative factors. These include caries experience (initial caries lesions and established caries defects, secondary caries and present caries activity), fluoride use, extent of plaque present, diet, bacterial and salivary activity and social and behavioural factors.
Dental caries has a multifactorial aetiology in which there is an interplay of three principal factors: the host (saliva and teeth), the microflora (plaque), and the substrate (diet), and a fourth factor: time. There is no single test that takes into consideration all these factors and can accurately predict an individual's susceptibility to caries. The risk of dental caries can be evaluated by analysing and integrating several causative factors. These include caries experience (initial caries lesions and established caries defects, secondary caries and present caries activity), fluoride use, extent of plaque present, diet, bacterial and salivary activity and social and behavioural factors.
Lines of rats susceptible and resistant to dental caries were produced through 25 and 19 generations of breeding, respectively. Differences in mean caries time between the two lines were found to be as great as more than 500 days in some late generations. Heritability estimates yielded values of 0.40 and 0.62.In a series of studies of dental caries in rats, Hunt, Hoppert, and Erwin' and Hunt, Hoppert, and Rosen2-4 found differences in the age at which caries first appeared in the rats of two lines, one selected for susceptibility and the other for resistance to dental caries. Rosen et al5 found differences in the oral flora; Kifer et al6 discovered varying fissure widths in the lower molars, and Willett et al7 noted variations in salivary protease activity. The pathways taken by certain contributing factors in caries development have been discussed by Hunt, Hoppert, and Rosen.2'8The etiology of dental caries is complex. In addition to the morphology of the teeth, which is affected by genetic factors,9"10 there are other contributing factors such as dietary composition and habits, oral flora, salivary secretion, hormonal level, and possibly basal metabolism. All these factors contribute to the oral environment and are associated with the genetic constitution of the organism. For instance, lactobacillus density differed between the caries-resistant and caries-susceptible rats of Hunt et a14 although the animals were kept in the same room and under the same management. Thyroid hormones were found to be antagonistic to dental caries,"1'12 and it appeared that differences in thyroid hormone activity were partially determined by heredity." In dental caries as a trait, there-
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