Main description:

For many years we have known that dental caries is one of the most common diseases of mankind. Only few people have sound teeth till the end of life. Formerly we thought that the only possibility to keep our teeth in good state was to go to the dentist regularly. Since we know how complicated our nutrition is we know too that we have to regard the composition of our food as a principal factor influencing the state of our teeth. The trace-elements e. g. play an important role. Studies with tracers during the last decades have shown that the minerals are metabolized very actively by living organisms. Thus research in our laboratory, together with Prof. SIZOO and Prof. OOLS, has demon strated that intravenously injected radio-active phosphorus has disap peared from the blood already half an hour after injection. Even the hard dental substance participates in this active metabolism.

Contents:

I. Aetiology of Dental Caries.- II. Histology of Normal and Carious Dental Tissue..- A. Introduction.- 1. Simple Microscopy.- 2. Ground Sections.- 3. Electron Microscopy.- 4. Polarization Microscopy.- 5. Radioactive Isotopes.- B. Data Obtained During the Investigation of Odontogenesis.- C. Data Concerning Completed Dental Tissue.- 1. Enamel.- 2. Dentino-enamel Junction.- 3. Dentine.- D. Summary.- III. Dental Caries and General Health..- A. Introduction.- B. Some Particular Aspects.- 1. Bacteraemia and Cardiac Lesions.- 2. Provocation Drugs.- 3. The Milk Teeth.- 4. Bronchitis.- 5. The Eyes.- 6. Systemic Diseases.- 7. Diabetes.- C. Summary.- IV. Dental Caries and Hormones.- V. Observations in Man.- A. Introduction.- B. Tropical Regions.- C. Polar Regions.- D. Isolated Mountain Valleys and Isolated Islands in Temperate Regions.- E. Observations in the United States and West Europe.- F. Observations During Wartime.- G. Experiments in Man.- H. Summary.- VI. Fluorine.- A. Introduction.- B. Investigations on Special Aspects.- 1. Laboratory Investigations.- a. Solubility and Hardness of the Enamel.- b. The Plaque on the Teeth and the Enzyme Action.- c. Permeability of the Enamel.- d. The Taking-up of Fluorine in the Enamel.- e. The Composition of the Fluorine Compounds.- 2. Clinical Investigations.- a. Diet.- b. Urine Investigation.- c. Clinical Investigations.- Addition of Fluorine to the Drinking Water.- Action in Tablet Form.- Addition to Salt.- Addition to Milk.- The Action in Sweets.- The Action in Tooth-paste.- Local Application.- C. Summary.- VII. Experimental Dental Caries in Animals.- A. Introduction.- B. Carious Lesions and Evaluation.- C. Cariogenic Diets.- D. The Role of Some Special Dietary Components.- 1. Minerals.- a. Calcium and Phosphorus.- b. Magnesium.- c. Strontium.- d. Manganese.- e. Tin.- f. Vanadium.- g. Molybdenum.- h. Selenium.- i. Cadmium.- k. Other Minerals.- 2. Vitamins.- a. Pyridoxine.- b. Yeast.- c. Ascorbic Acid.- d. Vitamin D and Vitamin A.- e. Vitamin K.- E. Summary.- VIII. Conclusions.- Literature.- Author Index.