Initiation of Caries or Erosive Tooth Wear Lesions from the Host Standpoint.

Dental caries is initiated by an unbalance between periods of demineralization and remineralization, and the consequence is localized loss of minerals right under the enamel surface of certain teeth that, if left to progress, may lead to irreversible loss of structure. One approach proposed to overcome the limitation of simply counting the number of teeth or surfaces affected by caries was to characterize the initial loss of minerals from the dental enamel in the laboratory as a way to phenotype individuals for genetic studies of dental caries or erosive tooth wear. This chapter discusses the results of these original studies.