From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcariescar‧ies /ˈkeəriz $ ˈker-/ noun [uncountable] technical MIdecay in someone’s teeth
Examples from the Corpus
caries• Tooth loss in people under 60, however, is usually caused by dental caries.• dental caries• Children in the lower socioeconomic groups, particularly black youngsters, had the highest caries attack rate.Origin caries (1500-1600) Latin “decay” 