DENTAL-CARIES AND SUGAR CONSUMPTION INTO THE 21ST-CENTURY

New trends towards the effect and role of sugar consumption in the eti ology of dental caries into the 21st century are presented, analyzed a nd discussed. Many factors such as the amount of sugar consumed, the f requency of sugar intake and the kind of sugars ingested have to be ta ken into consideration. Over the years, the relative importance of the se factors has changed. For a very long time, sugar has been ''blamed' ' as a primary etiological factor in the development of dental caries. However, a number of recent reports have attributed a much less impor tant role to carbohydrates. Sugar consumption only does not affect car ies prevalence as much as it used to. It is obvious that the role of s ugar in the etiology of caries must be reviewed. Additional factors li ke overall nutrition, the number of meals and snacks per day, educatio n and motivation, fluoride (in tablets or drops, in mouthwashes, tooth pastes, baby foods, formulas, beverages, milk, vitamin supplements and /or fluoridated water ingested), socioeconomic group, ethnicity, oral hygiene status, use of preventive methods and sweeteners other than su crose are presented.