Experimental Dental Caries

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Abstract
Removal of the submaxillary and sublingual glands, along with the majority of the parotid gland, in the rat results in an increase in dental caries. These effects appear to be twice as destructive to the dentition of the female as to the male. Fluorine, at a concn. of 25 g./ml., effectively inhibits, dental caries in desalivated rats to approx. the same degree in both sexes. No noticeable differences are evident in desalivated or control rats receiving the same diet in respect to the storage of fluorine in the femurs. Desalivation appears to cause a generalized atrophy of the uterus of the rat as well as changes in the adrenal cortex of the female animal. The possibility that the changes observed in the uterus are due to a decreased food intake is not fully defined in this study.