Dental Caries in the Cotton Rat

Abstract

Data are presented on the caries indices of cotton rats fed various dry and liquid rations. Animals fed dry whole milk and dry skim milk plus butter were found to have an incidence and extent of carious lesions higher than the zero scores previously observed in animals fed only liquid whole milk. Caries scores were again reduced to nearly zero, however, when these rations were reconstituted with water and fed in liquid form. In these experiments the caries indices of animals on all the diets were below those of control animals receiving the dry ration known to be highly cariogenic. Scores were also lower than those of controls when animals were fed the control ration in a liquid form. These data indicate that fluidity of the ration is an important factor in producing dental caries in the cotton rat.