Does calculus also prevent caries?
Calculus is a mix of minerals (calcium and phosphate) and organic material. This organic material consists of bacteria which cause caries, due to their acid waste products.
Is it possible that in calculus these bacteria can be fossilated by adoption/exchange of minerals?
If that is the case could this calculus form a layer around the teeth so that it prevents the bacteria in the dental plaque from causing caries?
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Yes, it is according to Keyes and Rams (2016)
Results: Dental calculus was observed on 1,140 (95%) of the extracted human teeth, and no dental carious lesions were found underlying dental calculus-covered surfaces on 1,139 of these teeth. However, dental calculus arrest of dental caries was found on one (0.54%) of 187 evaluated teeth that presented with unrestored proximal enamel caries. On the distal surface of a maxillary premolar tooth, dental calculus mineralization filled the outer surface cavitation of an incipient dental caries lesion. The dental calculus-covered carious lesion extended only slightly into enamel, and exhibited a brown pigmentation characteristic of inactive or arrested dental caries. In contrast, the tooth's mesial surface, without a superficial layer of dental calculus, had a large carious lesion going through enamel and deep into dentin.
References
Keyes, P. H., & Rams, T. E. (2016). Dental calculus arrest of dental caries. Journal of oral biology (Northborough, Mass.), 3(1). PMCID: PMC4950958 PDF: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4950958/pdf/nihms761315.pdf
Yes, the presence of calculus prevent the demineralization of the surface of the tooth. This is a common finding during routine scaling or calculus removal, where usually the underlying enamel is intact.
Also, there is a paper about this issue: Evidence for putting the calculus: caries inverse relationship to work who found
caries prevalence is highly significantly lower in calculus-prone than in calculus-free subjects
You can found the detailed explanation on the Fejerskov's Textbook of Dental Caries, and the principal ideal is: if you have calculus means that the intraoral enviroment is saturated with minerals and with pH levels above 5.0, hence demineralization of enamel is very difficult if not not feasible at all.
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