Plaque leads to cavities and gum disease. What is it?
The number one cause of cavities and gum disease is a sticky substance that adheres to the surface of a tooth. It is said that no less than 100 million bacteria live in 1mg of lumps of these bacteria called plaque. If one’s teeth are not brushed correctly, plaque will remain. The home of the bacillus that causes cavities <mutus bacillus> is also in this sticky plaque. The plaque accumulated between teetth and gums causes periodontal disease.

The mechanism of how plaque is made
A thin transparent film is built from the ingredients of saliva, and the dental surface is covered by it.
Various kinds of bacteria adhere there, attached to small food particles that becomes plaque.
The bacteria in plaque use the sugar in food as a source of nutrition, and continue to propagate.
By simultaneously making both the main ingredient dexistran and a sticky substance, it adheres powerfully to the surfaces of the teeth.
If left alone, the acids or toxins which bacteria create will cause cavities and gum disease.

Plaque is a ringleader, working in collaboration with a bacillus and sugar


The Streptococcus mutance bacillus likes to eat sugar and makes a substance called dexistran which is difficult to dissolve in water and sticks to one’s teeth.
Plaque is what results from the decalcifying effect of the acid released by the bacillus that settles on the teeth.
Plaque is, so to speak, "the lump of a bacillus."
Furthermore, the bacillus in plaque decompose sugar, makes lactic acid, and decalcify the enamel of the dental surface (decalcification).
It produces cavities.