types of dental caries

Dentists sort cavities by where they sit and how fast they move. The type decides both the treatment and the urgency.

By location on the tooth

• Pit and fissure caries: decay in the deep grooves of chewing surfaces, mostly molars - the commonest type, and the reason sealants exist
• Smooth surface caries: on the flat sides of teeth, especially between them where a brush cannot reach - floss territory
• Root caries: on the exposed root when gums recede, commoner after middle age - the root surface is soft and decays fast
• Recurrent (secondary) caries: new decay at the edge of an old filling or crown - old work needs monitoring, not forgetting

By speed

• Acute (rampant) caries: many teeth decaying quickly, often in children with constant sweet sipping or adults with dry mouth - needs urgent, comprehensive attention
• Chronic caries: the slow ordinary kind - months to years per cavity
• Arrested caries: decay that has stopped - dark, hard, shiny, painless; improved hygiene and diet can genuinely freeze an early lesion

The special ones

• Early childhood caries (baby bottle tooth decay): rapid destruction of a toddler's front teeth from bottles of milk, juice or sweetened drinks in bed - preventable by never letting a child sleep with a bottle
• Radiation caries: aggressive decay after head-and-neck radiotherapy dries the saliva - a known complication with its own strict prevention protocol

One-line summary

Caries types run from groove decay in molars and between-teeth decay that only floss reaches, to fast root decay on receded gums, recurrent decay under old fillings, and the rapid childhood and radiation forms - each with its own fix and its own clock.