Developmental and post-developmental influences on incidence of experimental dental caries resulting from dietary supplementation by various elements

Abstract

Caries-susceptible rats of the Harvard strain were used to evaluate developmental and post-developmental influences of dietary supplements of several mineral salts on experimental dental caries. When various levels of sodium chloride, barium chloride, vanadium pentoxide, vanadyl sulphate and ammonium paramolybdate were fed to Harvard caries-susceptible rats, these mineral salts had no consistent, statistically significant influence on the dental caries incidence. Sodium borate and strontium carbonate supplements post-developmentally caused modest but rather inconsistent reductions in the dental caries incidence. Lithium carbonate supplements fed post-developmentally caused consistent reductions in the incidence of dental caries that were significant at the 5 per cent level, while ammonium molybdate supplements under the same experimental circumstances caused reductions that were statistically significant at the 1 per cent level. The various levels of barium chloride, sodium borate, and ammonium molybdate that were provided during pregnancy and lactation in the effort to influence the development of the molars of the offspring had no influence on the dental caries susceptibility of the offspring. Developmental supplements of vanadium pentoxide and vanadyl sulphate resulted in inconclusive findings due to poor reproduction in these experiments, but there seemed to be little evidence that the dental caries susceptibility of the offspring had been altered by either vanadium compound. Developmental supplements of sodium chloride, lithium carbonate, strontium carbonate and ammonium paramolybdate resulted in significant increases in the dental caries susceptibility of the offspring at levels varying from 5 per cent to 1 per cent. Many meticulous experiments need to be conducted before there will be detailed understanding of the role of the minor elements in the development and maintenance of the teeth.