Caries Resistance - Criterion of Dental Status of Children and Adolescents
Authors:   Uzhhorod National University. 3, Narodna Square, Uzhhorod, Transcarpathian region 88000, Ukraine, Klitynska O. V. , Zorivchak T. I. , Shetelya V. V. 
Published: April 2021

Prevention of dental caries in children is one of the current problems of modern pediatric dentistry, which is due to the high prevalence and intensity of this disease. Analysis of the results of epidemiological studies conducted among children of different ages in the regions of Ukraine shows a significant increase in caries growth in recent years, both temporary and permanent teeth, which leads to in-depth study of the hardness of dental tissues to cariogenic factors in connection with the need in the constant improvement of methods of treatment and prevention of this pathology. The purpose of the study was to analyze the value of enamel caries resistance as a detector of resistance of dental hard tissues to carious process and its complications. The subject of the research is the work of domestic and foreign researchers on this topic. In the course of the research the bibliosemantic method and structural-logical analysis were used. Today, dental caries is the most common disease in different age groups, which is confirmed by the prevalence – 90-100% and a sharp trend of increasing its intensity. Given the high rates of this pathology, it should be remembered that its untimely treatment leads to the following complications: pulpitis, periodontitis, tooth extraction. An important concept that indicates the possibility of caries is caries resistance, which indicates the level of resistance of the enamel to caries and has an informative diagnostic value for the dentist. According to modern ideas, in the pathogenesis of dental caries the leading role is played by caries-resistant enamel. Its mineral base is formed by isomorphic crystals of apatite, which contain various chemical elements, and their amount in the body is closely related to the amount in the environment. It is established that more than 40 chemical elements take part in the process of tooth mineralization, the most important of which belongs to calcium, phosphorus, fluoride. Insufficient amount or excess of certain micronutrients in the environment, especially in soils and drinking water, can change their content in the body and, consequently, in the hard tissues of the teeth, affecting their resistance to caries. It is well known that the influence of a number of adverse environmental factors leads to a decrease in the resistance of the body as a whole and, as a consequence, to a decrease in the caries resistance of the enamel of the hard tissues of the teeth. Sensitivity to the effects of adverse factors increases significantly in the prepubertal period, a time not only of intensive growth of the child and the formation of his personality, but also a period of mineralization of more than half of permanent teeth. Therefore, exactly at this time dentists should pay special attention to the prevention of caries of permanent teeth in children by improving the conditions of secondary mineralization of tooth enamel, thereby increasing their level of caries resistance