Physical model for plaque action in the tooth-plaque-saliva system.

Recent work has demonstrated that the physical model approach should greatly aid in understanding enamel demineralization, remineralization, and enamel reactions in general. Such research has already led to a systematic, self-consistent, mechanistic description of the acid demineralization kinetics for dental enamel.' 5 The roles played by the mineral phase, the type and concentration of acid buffers, pH, and solution of fluoride have been investigated. The physical model approach is not intended to be "theory" in the usual sense. The purpose of the models are not generally to determine whether they are correct or incorrect on an all-or-none basis. Instead, such models most often provide, in the light of experimental data, the initial quantitative inter-relationships that considered intuition alone may have been unable to provide. From these models, suitable in vitro, in situ, or in vivo experiments are designed; from these experiments, refinements of the models may follow. Evidence6'7 involving plaque, oral bacteria, carbohydrate substrate, and enamel