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Dental Caries in the Cotton Rat¹

I. Methods of Study and Preliminary Nutritional Experiments

One Figure

Department of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin, Madison

1. The cotton rat is highly susceptible to tooth decay when fed a synthetic ration high in sucrose.

2. Almost no tooth decay occurred in those cotton rats which were fed a stock ration composed of natural foodstuffs or a synthetic ration in which the sucrose had been replaced by dextrin.

3. An experimental period of 14 weeks was found to be optimal for the observation and evaluation of the carious lesions.

4. No differences in the rate of incidence or the extent of the carious lesions could be produced by altering the particle size of the stock or dextrin rations.

5. The various liver supplements which were added to the sucrose rations to produce optimal growth had no effect on the development of the carious lesions.

6. Increased amounts of the fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K, produced a decrease in the number and the extent of the carious lesions in the molars of cotton rats on the sucrose ration 801.

7. There was a definite bilateral distribution of the carious lesions. There was a much lower rate of incidence of carious lesions in the molars of the upper jaw than in those of the lower jaw. The ascending order of caries incidence in the molars was as follows: upper first, lower first, upper third, upper second, lower second and lower third.

8. In view of these observations the authors believe that the cotton rat is the best experimental animal yet known for the production and study of tooth decay. The ease of production and the high, consistent incidence of carious lesions make possible many phases of experimental approach to the study of tooth decay, its causes and its control.

We are indebted to Merck and Co., Rahway, New Jersey for the synthetic vitamins; to Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Illinois for halibut liver oil; and to Wilson and Company, Chicago, Illinois, for the liver preparations.

Manuscript received 9 June 1944.