The Dental Caries Response of Rats Fed Cariogenic and Non-Cariogenic Diets for Different Periods of Time

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Abstract
Matched litter mate rats were used in two sets of experiments employing two types of rations — diet 1 (15A), consisting of natural foods without sugar, produced little caries and diet 2 (18A), in which 18% of the calories in diet 1 were replaced with sugar, produced moderate to severe caries. When the non-cariogenic diet was fed for about half the experimental period of 100 days and the cariogenic diet the second half, the teeth were well protected; whereas if the cariogenic diet was fed the first half of the experimental period, the dental conditions were as bad as if the rats had the cariogenic diet for the entire period. Analogies with human dental conditions are drawn.