The influence of tin (II) and oat hulls upon dental caries in the rat

Abstract

The investigation was to determine the influence of oat hulls and/or tin II upon the incidence and severity of dental caries in rats, provided with either a standard cariogenic diet or a nutritionally supplemented cariogenic diet. Six-hundred and forty weanling rats, divided into 16 equal groups, were involved. The animals were provided with either a standard or a nutritionally supplemented cariogenic diet containing cereal to which was added either oat hulls and/or tin II. as stannous chloride. The diets thus contained either no additives. 3.3 per cent oat hulls, 2.57 ppm tin II. or a combination of the two. The various diets were provided to each of two otherwise identical groups of animals. At a later date the entire study was repeated using another production of the cereal and different animals. The results clearly indicate that the nutritionally supplemented cariogenic regimen, as compared to the standard cariogenic regimen, resulted in an increased body weight gain and significantly fewer carious lesions. Moreover, the presence of oat hulls resulted in a significant cariostatic effect regardless of the nutritional quality of the cariogenic diet. The presence of tin II at the concentrations given was without a significant effect regardless of the type of diet or the presence or absence of oat hulls in the regimen. The findings also indicate that one need not utilize diets with lesser nutritional content and correspondingly greater cariogenicity to detect the effect of cariostatic agents and suggest that nutritionally supplemented cariogenic diets may be utilized to explore the influence of potential cariostatic agents in experimental animals.