Question

Tooth decay is caused by the presence of a base.
A. True
B. False

Answer 1

Hint: Tooth decay is mostly caused by the tiny pieces and bits of food which are generally accumulated on the hard tissues of the teeth, like enamel. We should remember the last time we ate something and those tiny crumbs got stuck in our tooth.

Complete step by step solution: Tooth decay or the cavities,which most of us might have been faced with in our lives,is caused by the degradation of food debris stuck in our teeth,by the action of bacteria on it .
- The tooth surface, generally the enamel or dentin, when it has food debris in the form of carbohydrates stuck in it, they are attacked by caries causing bacteria.
- Since our mouth contains a wide variety of oral bacteria,some of them can produce high levels of lactic acid which allows the fermentation of sugars,and thus this creates a sticky creamy coloured mass,called plaque,which when not taken care of for a long time can cause tooth decay.
- With increasing time,the enamel and dentin of the teeth gets destroyed,thus creating a cavity,and changing the color of the tooth.
- Simple sugars found in food often are the primary source of bacteria, which are further consumed up by bacteria,and changes to an acidic compound, thus causing caries.
- So the statement that "tooth decay is caused by a presence of base" doesn't hold true.
- So, it's a false statement.
- And it is rather produced by the action of acids.

Additional Information: The bacteria generally responsible for decay of our tooth is Streptococcus mutans,which convert the glucose ,fructose and sucrose into lactic acid.

Note: We should remember that we use toothpastes to brush our tooth regularly,which contains a mild amount of base in their components,but still toothpastes do not cause any degradation of our tooth.