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Diagnoses

Recurrent caries

About this diagnosis

Diagnoses are associated with common findings which are used to prescribe appropriate treatment.

Alternate terms: Decay under existing restoration.

Recurrent caries is tooth decay that occurs under an existing filling or other dental restoration. It may be caused by poor oral hygiene, or by development of a microscopic pathway for leakage past the restoration ("microleakage"). Microleakage allows acids and bacteria access to areas of the tooth which are not accessible to toothbrush bristles or other oral hygiene aids.

View animation Brushing Problem Areas

Recurrent dental caries or tooth decay around a gold crown.

Figure 1: Recurrent dental caries (tooth decay) at the margin of a gold crown. It is a potentially costly mistake to think that teeth which are covered with crowns cannot decay further.