Look up caries in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Caries is a progressive destruction of any kind of bone structure, including the skull, ribs and other bones, or the teeth. Caries can be caused by osteomyelitis, which is a microrganism disease. A disease that involves caries is mastoiditis, an inflammation of the mastoid process, in which the bone gets eroded.

[edit] Types

Dental caries is one of many types of caries. Dental caries affects different parts of the teeth (enamel, dentin, or cementum) in the crown or the root of the tooth. Nearly all cases contain bacteria such as streptococcus mutans, lactobacillus and Candida albicans, which produces lactic acid as the products responsible for the caries.