Dental caries is the technical term used by healthcare and dental professionals to describe the disease more commonly known as TOOTH DECAY.
Research shows that dental caries occurs across a series of stages, or a ‘continuum’ of disease. The three main stages are known as:
Initial-stage:This is characterized by the first clinically non-cavitated visual changes in enamel seen by a dental professional on clean dry teeth and any equivalent lesions seen on dental x-ray films. These lesions can be controlled and potentially reversed with changes to diet and personal dental hygiene practices, supplemented by fluorides. 
Moderate-stage:This is characterized clinically by either a localized enamel breakdown (without clinical visual signs of dentinal involvement) or an underlying dark shadow from dentine – and the equivalent lesions seen on dental x-ray films. Some of these lesions can be controlled by more intensive preventive treatments and homecare, whilst others may require tooth-preserving fillings. 
Extensive-stage: This is characterized by a distinct cavity with visible dentine or an extensive distinct cavity with visible dentin which involves more than half of the tooth surface. And the equivalent lesions seen on dental x-ray films. These lesions are likely to require tooth-preserving fillings as well as preventive control of the underlying disease causing factors. 
FOR FURTHER READING;
1.Campbell PR (2009). Carious lesions. In NO Harris et al., eds., Primary Preventative Dentistry, 7th ed., pp. 29-42. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
2.Clark MB, et al. (2014). Fluoride use in caries prevention in the primary care setting. Pediatrics, 134(3): 626-633. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2014-1699. Accessed October 3, 2014.
3.Hodges KO (2009). Periodontal diseases. In NO Harris et al., eds., Primary Preventive Dentistry, 7th ed., pp. 46-66. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
4.Klein U (2014). Oral medicine and dentistry. In WW Hay Jr et al., eds., Current Diagnosis and Treatment: Pediatrics, 21st ed., pp. 490-501. New York: McGraw-Hill.
5.National Institutes of Health (2011). NIH fact sheet: Tooth decay. Available online: http://report.nih.gov/NIHfactsheets/ViewFactSheet.aspx?csid=129.
6.The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Council on Clinical Affairs (1967, revised 2014). Policy on use of fluoride. 7.The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. http://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_Guidelines/P_FluorideUse.pdf. Accessed October 3, 2014.