The Distribution of Carious Cavities in the Lower Molars of Caries-Susceptible and Caries-Resistant Albino Rats (Rattus Norvegicus)

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Abstract
Since 1937 the authors have been investigating the role of heredity in dental caries of albino rats. In addition, a number of non-hereditary factors have been studied. A caries-susceptible and a caries-resistant strain have been produced. The cariogenic diet used has been the ground rice-powdered milk-alfalfa meal-salt diet developed by Hoppert et al. The present paper describes the distribution of cavities in the lower molar teeth. In the susceptible strain, 6269 cavities were tabulated; in the resistant strain, 3779 cavities. The highest incidences of cavities in the susceptibles were near the centers of the occlusal surfaces of the 1st (21.7%) and 2d (38.7%) lower molars. There were significantly more cavities on the right jaw (57.81%) than on the left (42.19%). The highest incidences in the lower molars of the resistant rats were on the occlusal surface of the posterior region of the 1st molar (22.8%), at the contact between the 1st and 2d molars (22.5%), and the occlusal surface of the posterior region of the 2d molar (21.9%). Here, too, there were significantly more cavities on the right side (52.18%) than on the left (47.82%).