The nutrients necessary for plaque growth are considered as:
Environmental determinants
Ecological determinants
Epidemiological determinants
Nutritional determinants
Dental caries is an ecological disease in which diet, host and microbial flora interact with each other in a specific period of time in such a way which increases demineralization of the tooth structure with resultant caries formation.
Ecological determinants:
The ecosystem-based 'goods and services' that we get from nature are the ecological determinants of health. Among the most important of these are oxygen, water, food, nutrients, etc.