Carious for Dummies

Sure thing! So, the word "carious" is actually a term that's used to describe teeth that have decayed or gotten cavities. You know how when you don't brush your teeth or eat too much candy, they can start to get little holes in them? Well, that's what we call "caries" or "cavities," and when a tooth has those, we say it's "carious."

It's kind of like if you have a piece of fruit that's been sitting out for too long and it starts to get mushy and brown spots - that's kind of like what happens with carious teeth. The bacteria in your mouth can make the teeth weak and start to break them down, leaving those tiny little holes. And if we don't take care of those carious teeth, they can get even worse and start to really hurt.

So, when we talk about "carious," we're talking about teeth that have decayed and need some extra attention from the dentist. It's super important to make sure we brush and floss our teeth every day to keep them from getting carious. And if we do get a cavity, we need to go see the dentist to get it fixed up. So, that's what "carious" means - it's all about taking care of our teeth and keeping them healthy.