Editing Tooth decay (section)

==History==
[[File:Medieval dentistry.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Refer to caption|An image from ''[[Omne Bonum]]'' (14th century) depicting a dentist extracting a tooth with [[forceps]]]]

There is a long history of dental caries. Over a million years ago, [[hominin]]s such as ''[[Paranthropus]]'' had cavities.<ref name="pmid36285994">{{cite journal |vauthors=Zhang JS, Chu CH, Yu OY |title=Oral Microbiome and Dental Caries Development |journal=Dent J |volume=10 |issue=10 |date=September 2022 |page=184 |pmid=36285994 |pmc=9601200 |doi=10.3390/dj10100184|doi-access=free }}</ref> The largest increases in the prevalence of caries have been associated with dietary changes.<ref name="uicanthropology">[http://www.uic.edu/classes/osci/osci590/11_1Epidemiology.htm Epidemiology of Dental Disease] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061129235853/http://www.uic.edu/classes/osci/osci590/11_1Epidemiology.htm|date=2006-11-29}}, hosted on the University of Illinois at Chicago website. Page accessed January 9, 2007.</ref><ref name="suddickhistorical">{{cite journal |vauthors=Suddick RP, Harris NO |title=Historical perspectives of oral biology: a series |journal=Critical Reviews in Oral Biology & Medicine|volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=135–51 |year=1990 |pmid=2129621 |doi=10.1177/10454411900010020301|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Archaeological evidence shows that tooth decay is an ancient disease dating far into [[prehistory]]. [[Human skull|Skull]]s dating from a million years ago through the [[Neolithic]] period show signs of caries, including those from the [[Paleolithic]] and [[Mesolithic]] ages.<ref>Caries Through Time: An Anthropological Overview; Luis Pezo Lanfranco and Sabine Eggers; Laboratório de Antropologia Biológica, Depto. de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil</ref> The increase of caries during the Neolithic period may be attributed to the increased consumption of plant foods containing carbohydrates.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Richards MP |title=A brief review of the archaeological evidence for Palaeolithic and Neolithic subsistence |journal=European Journal of Clinical Nutrition|volume=56 |issue=12 |pages=1270–1278 |date=December 2002 |pmid=12494313 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601646|s2cid=17082871 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The beginning of rice cultivation in [[South Asia]] is also believed to have caused an increase in caries especially for women,<ref>{{cite journal|first1=John R.|last1=Lukacs|title=Sex Differences in Dental Caries Rates With the Origin of Agriculture in South Asia|journal=Current Anthropology|date=1996-02-01|issn=0011-3204|pages=147–153|volume=37|issue=1|doi=10.1086/204481|s2cid=143956987|url=https://zenodo.org/record/995657|access-date=2017-09-24|archive-date=2020-08-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804205449/https://zenodo.org/record/995657|url-status=live}}</ref> although there is also some [[evidence]] from sites in Thailand, such as Khok Phanom Di, that shows a decrease in overall percentage of dental caries with the increase in dependence on rice agriculture.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Tayles N. |author2=Domett K. |author3=Nelsen K. | year = 2000 | title = Agriculture and dental caries? The case of rice in prehistoric Southeast Asia | journal = World Archaeology| volume = 32 | issue = 1| pages = 68–83 | doi=10.1080/004382400409899|pmid=16475298 |s2cid=43087099 }}</ref>

A [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] text from 5000 BC describes a "[[tooth worm]]" as the cause of caries.<ref name="adahistory">[http://www.ada.org/public/resources/history/timeline_ancient.asp History of Dentistry: Ancient Origins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705105101/http://www.ada.org/public/resources/history/timeline_ancient.asp |date=2007-07-05 }}, hosted on the [http://www.ada.org American Dental Association] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050103091212/http://www.ada.org/ |date=2005-01-03 }} website. Page accessed January 9, 2007.</ref> Evidence of this belief has also been found in [[History of India|India]], [[History of Egypt|Egypt]], [[History of Japan|Japan]], and [[History of China|China]].<ref name="suddickhistorical"/> Unearthed ancient skulls show evidence of primitive dental work. In [[Pakistan]], teeth dating from around 5500 BC to 7000 BC show nearly perfect holes from primitive [[dental drill]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Coppa A, Bondioli L, Cucina A, etal |title=Palaeontology: early Neolithic tradition of dentistry |journal=Nature|volume=440 |issue=7085 |pages=755–6 |date=April 2006 |pmid=16598247 |doi=10.1038/440755a |bibcode=2006Natur.440..755C |s2cid=6787162 }}</ref> The [[Ebers Papyrus]], an [[Egypt]]ian text from 1550 BC, mentions diseases of teeth.<ref name="adahistory"/> During the [[Assyria#Sargonid dynasty|Sargonid dynasty]] of [[Assyria]] during 668 to 626 BC, writings from the king's physician specify the need to extract a tooth due to spreading [[inflammation]].<ref name="suddickhistorical"/> In the [[Roman Empire]], wider consumption of cooked foods led to a small increase in caries prevalence<!-- article does not cite reference for roman diet -->.<ref name="Tougersugars">{{cite journal |vauthors=Touger-Decker R, van Loveren C |title=Sugars and dental caries |journal=The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition|volume=78 |issue=4 |pages=881S–892S |date=October 2003 |pmid=14522753 |doi=10.1093/ajcn/78.4.881S |doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[Greco-Roman civilization]]<!-- rewrite -->, in addition to the Egyptian civilization, had treatments for pain resulting from caries.<ref name="suddickhistorical"/>

The rate of caries remained low through the [[Bronze Age]] and [[Iron Age]], but sharply increased during the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name="uicanthropology"/> Periodic increases in caries prevalence had been small in comparison to the 1000 AD increase, when [[sugar cane]] became more accessible to the Western world. Treatment consisted mainly of herbal remedies and charms, but sometimes also included [[bloodletting]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Anderson T |title=Dental treatment in Medieval England |journal=British Dental Journal|volume=197 |issue=7 |pages=419–25 |date=October 2004 |pmid=15475905 |doi=10.1038/sj.bdj.4811723|s2cid=25691109 }}</ref> The [[barber surgeon]]s of the time provided services that included [[Extraction (dental)|tooth extractions]].<ref name="suddickhistorical"/> Learning their training from apprenticeships, these health providers were quite successful in ending tooth pain and likely prevented systemic spread of infections in many cases. Among Roman Catholics, prayers to [[Saint Apollonia]], the patroness of dentistry, were meant to heal pain derived from tooth infection.<ref>Elliott, Jane (October 8, 2004). [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3722598.stm Medieval teeth 'better than Baldrick's'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070111081501/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3722598.stm |date=2007-01-11 }}, BBC news.</ref>

There is also evidence of caries increase when Indigenous people in North America changed from a strictly hunter-gatherer diet to a diet with [[maize]]. Rates also increased after contact with colonizing Europeans, implying an even greater dependence on maize.<ref name="uicanthropology"/>

During the European [[Age of Enlightenment]], the belief that a "tooth worm" caused caries was also no longer accepted in the European medical community.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Gerabek WE |title=The tooth-worm: historical aspects of a popular medical belief |journal=Clinical Oral Investigations|volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=1–6 |date=March 1999 |pmid=10522185 |doi=10.1007/s007840050070|s2cid=6077189 }}</ref> [[Pierre Fauchard]], known as the father of modern dentistry, was one of the first to reject the idea that worms caused tooth decay and noted that sugar was detrimental to the teeth and gingiva.<ref>McCauley, H. Berton. [http://www.fauchard.org/dentalworld/2001/DW.08/DWpfaAug01-page1.htm Pierre Fauchard (1678–1761)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404085126/http://fauchard.org/dentalworld/2001/DW.08/DWpfaAug01-page1.htm |date=2007-04-04 }}, hosted on the Pierre Fauchard Academy website. The excerpt comes from a speech given at a Maryland PFA Meeting on March 13, 2001. Page accessed January 17, 2007.</ref> In 1850, another sharp increase in the prevalence of caries occurred and is believed to be a result of widespread diet changes.<ref name="suddickhistorical"/> Prior to this time, cervical caries was the most frequent type of caries, but increased availability of sugar cane, refined flour, bread, and sweetened tea corresponded with a greater number of pit and fissure caries.

In the 1890s, [[Willoughby D. Miller|W. D. Miller]] conducted a series of studies that led him to propose an explanation for dental caries that was influential for current theories. He found that bacteria inhabited the mouth and that they produced acids that dissolved tooth structures when in the presence of fermentable carbohydrates.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Kleinberg I |title=A mixed-bacteria ecological approach to understanding the role of the oral bacteria in dental caries causation: an alternative to Streptococcus mutans and the specific-plaque hypothesis |journal=Critical Reviews in Oral Biology & Medicine|volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=108–25 |date=1 March 2002|pmid=12097354|doi=10.1177/154411130201300202}}</ref> This explanation is known as the chemoparasitic caries theory.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Baehni PC, Guggenheim B |title=Potential of diagnostic microbiology for treatment and prognosis of dental caries and periodontal diseases |journal=Critical Reviews in Oral Biology & Medicine |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=259–77 |year=1996 |pmid=8909881 |doi=10.1177/10454411960070030401 |url=http://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/1662/1/Baehni1996.pdf |access-date=2019-01-13 |archive-date=2017-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922171951/http://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/1662/1/Baehni1996.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Miller's contribution, along with the research on plaque by G. V. Black and J. L. Williams, served as the foundation for the current explanation of the etiology of caries.<ref name="suddickhistorical"/> Several of the specific strains of lactobacilli were identified in 1921 by [[Fernando E. Rodríguez Vargas]].

In 1924 in London, Killian Clarke described a spherical bacterium in chains isolated from carious lesions which he called ''Streptococcus'' ''mutans''. Although Clarke proposed that this organism was the cause of caries, the discovery was not followed up. Later, in 1954 in the US, Frank Orland working with hamsters showed that caries was transmissible and caused by acid-producing ''Streptococcus'' thus ending the debate whether dental caries were resultant from bacteria. It was not until the late 1960s that it became generally accepted that the ''Streptococcus'' isolated from hamster caries was the same as ''S''. ''mutans''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hiremath |first1=S. S. |title=Textbook of Preventive and Community Dentistry |date=2011 |publisher=Elsevier India |isbn=978-81-312-2530-1 |page=145 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tz9cWJ3yUycC&pg=PP145}}</ref>

Tooth decay has been present throughout human history, from early [[hominids]] millions of years ago, to modern humans.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Selwitz RH, Ismail AI, Pitts NB |title=Dental caries |journal=The Lancet|volume=369 |issue=9555 |pages=51–9 |date=January 2007 |pmid=17208642 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60031-2|s2cid=204616785 }}</ref> The prevalence of caries increased dramatically in the 19th century, as the [[Industrial Revolution]] made certain items, such as refined sugar and flour, readily available.<ref name=suddickhistorical/> The diet of the "newly industrialized English working class"<ref name=suddickhistorical/> then became centered on bread, jam, and sweetened tea, greatly increasing both sugar consumption and caries.

===Etymology and usage===

Naturalized from Latin into English (a [[loanword]]), ''caries'' in its English form originated as a [[mass noun]] that means 'rottenness',<ref name=Taber2013/><ref>{{Citation |author=Elsevier |title=Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary |url=http://www.dorlands.com/ |postscript=. |access-date=2015-01-01 |archive-date=2014-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111192614/http://dorlands.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> that is, 'decay'. The word is an [[uncountable noun]].

''Cariesology''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sdvint.com/o-zhurnale/?lang=en |title=Dentistry for All / International Dental Review&nbsp;– General Info |quote=...Head of Cariesology and Endodontics Department... |access-date=2019-09-26 |archive-date=2019-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026182441/http://sdvint.com/o-zhurnale/?lang=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mu-varna.bg/EN/AboutUs/Dentistry |title=The Faculty of Dental Medicine |access-date=2019-09-26 |archive-date=2019-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926120256/http://mu-varna.bg/EN/AboutUs/Dentistry |url-status=live }}</ref> or ''cariology''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/cariology |title="Cariology" entry |publisher=thefreedictionary.com |access-date=2019-09-26 |archive-date=2019-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926120253/https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/cariology |url-status=live }}</ref> is the study of dental caries.