Shorts

Pit and fissure caries are initiated by the accumulation of food debris and bacteria in deep, narrow fissures and pits on the tooth surface, which are protected from the normal cleansing mechanisms of the mouth, even in the absence of a thick, mature dental plaque biofilm.

Plaque is necessary for the initiation of proximal, smooth surface, and root surface caries.

In epidemiology, incidence refers to the number of new cases of a disease or condition that occur within a specific time frame in a defined population. Dental caries, also known as tooth decay, is a common chronic condition where bacteria in the mouth produce acids that destroy the tooth enamel and underlying dentin, leading to cavities. The incidence of dental caries would be the number of new cases of tooth decay diagnosed within a given period, say a year or another time interval.

Point prevalence, on the other hand, is the proportion of a population that has a specific condition at a particular point in time. It is a measure of the prevalence of dental caries at a single moment, which does not account for new cases or recoveries.

Period prevalence is the proportion of the population that has had a particular condition during a specific period of time, such as a year or a month. This measure includes both new cases and cases that have persisted from before the start of the period in question.

The generally accepted "certainly lethal dose" range for 70 kg adults, i.e., from 5 to 10 g of sodium fluoride or from 32 to 64 mg fluoride/kg

The concept of a "probably toxic dose" (PTD) is advanced. The PTD, 5.0 mg F/kg, is defined as the dose of ingested fluoride that should trigger immediate therapeutic intervention and hospitalization because of the likelihood of serious toxic consequences.