Effect of Basic Diets on the Rate of Incisor Tooth Growth.

Abstract

In a series of studies on the effects of diet on bone healing and growth and tooth development and growth of the albino rat, it was decided to measure the rate of growth of the incisor teeth after the method of Addison and Appleton.1 The following is a preliminary report.The animals were males of approximately 6 months of age, and weighed between 190 and 300 grams, averaging 243 grams. All the animals on each type of study were kept under as nearly identical conditions as possible. A group of over 200 controls were fed on the standard diet of Smith and Moise.2Other groups of 140 animals, were fed on a high-protein diet, on a high-fat diet, on a high-carbohydrate diet.2 Similar groups were then given the standard diet with the salt mixture varied so as to result in a low-total salt diet in one instance, a (nearly) calcium-free diet in another, and a (nearly) phosphorus-free in a third. These salt mixtures were made according to the method of Osborne and Mendel,3 and the fundamental dietary values in each c...