Tooth Decay Demographics

Tooth Decay Demographics

Tooth decay is one of the most common health problems around the world. It is also one of the oldest. Prehistoric humans appear to have had dental problems dating from the time that they first began to cultivate grains for food, since bread and flour are rich in carbohydrates. Skulls found in Asia dating from 7000 BCE have teeth that contain holes created by early dental drills. Ancient Egyptian, Indian, and Sumerian medical

A wisdom tooth showing decay.

The Dentist Who Discovered the Cause of Tooth Decay

The bacterium that causes tooth decay was identified in the early 1920s by military dentist Fernando Rodríguez Vargas (188–1932). Born in Puerto Rico, Rodríguez Vargas graduated from the dental school of Georgetown Univer- sity in Washington, D.C. in 1913. He began to investigate the cause of tooth decay in 1915 while working for the federal government’s Indian Medical Service in Tucson, Arizona. There he noticed that the Native Americans he was treating had badly discolored teeth as well as a high number of cavities. His early research was interrupted when the United States entered World War I in 1917, and he was sent overseas to examine and treat American sol- diers for dental problems.

In 1921, Rodríguez Vargas was working as a bacteriologist in Washington, D.C., for the Army Dental Corps when he discovered that three species of Lactobacillus bacterium are responsible for producing the acids that cause tooth decay. He published his findings in a military medical journal. In 1928 he wrote an article for the Journal of the American Medical Association on the usefulness of various anti- septics in cleansing the mouth and preventing tooth decay.

Rodríguez Vargas died of pneumonia in 1932. He has been honored for his pioneering work in dentistry by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Puerto Rico College of Dental Surgeons.

texts attributed tooth decay and cavities to a “tooth worm.” The rate of tooth decay among humans increased rapidly after 1850 CE, when people began to eat larger quantities of refined sugar, refined flour, and other sweet and sticky foods.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tooth decay is the most common chronic health disorder among children in the United States between the ages of five and seventeen. Fifty-nine percent of children in this age group have one or more cavities. Many adults also have untreated tooth decay—27 percent of those between the ages of thirty-five and forty- four, and 30 percent of those over sixty-five.

Worldwide, about 90 percent of schoolchildren and 95 percent of adults have had at least one dental cavity. The rates are highest in Asia and Latin America and lowest in Africa. Males and females are equally likely to develop tooth decay.

In developed countries, the rates of dental cavities have dropped since the 1950s; this decrease is attributed to improved patient educa- tion about care of the mouth and teeth, and to such preventive practices as adding fluoride to the water supply. On the other hand, however, the reduction in the number of cavities is not equally distributed throughout the population. Studies in Western Europe, Canada, and the United States indicate that 20 percent of the population in these countries has 70 percent of the cavities.

People at increased risk of tooth decay include:

• Babies who are given sweetened juices or other liquids to drink. “Baby bottle tooth decay” is a common pattern of cavities in the front of the mouth found in very young children.

• People who abuse methamphetamine, an addictive stimulant drug. Methamphetamine dries out the tissues of the mouth, contri- buting to outright tooth loss as well as tooth decay.

• People with diabetes or Sjögren syndrome. These disorders reduce the amount of saliva in the mouth.

• People with eating disorders. People with bulimia who force them- selves to vomit repeatedly weaken the enamel on their teeth by exposing the tooth surfaces to stomach acids.

• Smokers. Smoking causes the gums to recede, thus exposing more of the tooth surface to bacteria in the mouth and the acid they produce.

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