Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A biochemical pattern basic to tooth decay

1960; Elsevier BV; Volume: 61; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.14219/jada.archive.1960.0148

1943-4723

Naomi C. Turner,

Bone and Dental Protein Studies

In research into the process of dental caries, the role of sugar may have been overstressed and that of .starch under­ stressed. This three year longitudinal study involving 170 children indicated that, in the mouths of caries-free persons as contrasted to those of caries-prone per­ sons, there occurs a slower breakdown of cornstarch, lower chloride values, lower production of acid from saliva and cornstarch, and a high buffer capacity to handle the acids developed. There appears to be a relation between dextrinizing time and chloride content of saliva, as well as between dextrinizing time and acid developed from incubation with cornstarch. Titratable alkalinity and dextrinizing time are found not to be a variant of each other. Buffer capac­ ity may be a balancing factor resulting from a different physiological sequence rather than being an intimate part of the dextrinizing system. Dental caries may be conceived as the result of a metabolic fault expressed through genetically de­ termined human enzyme systems. This study suggests that some o f these en­ zyme systems are detrimental and some protective to tooth structure.