PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE TEETH OF RATS PRODUCED BY SYNTHETIC DIETS

¹ Departments of Bacteriology and Biological Chemistry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York City

A synthetic diet low in calcium and free from vitamin D was found to produce changes in the teeth of rats, ascribable to deficient calcification, as follows: The odontogenic zone is abnormally broad in the dentin of both molars and incisors, and large calcified globules appear in the body of the dentin. The enamel of the molars, and the fully formed enamel of the incisors, are apparently normal; but the youngest enamel of the incisors, and the apical ameloblasts, present evidence of deformity. An alteration in the staining quality of the alveolar bone occurs. The pulps, including the odontoblasts, remain normal. Histogenetic implications of these findings are mentioned.

Other synthetic diets, including a vitamin C-free diet, and diets in which vitamin C was supplied by 2 cc. of orange juice per rat per day, were found to give rise to changes in the pulps and dentin of the molars only, similar in some respects to the manifestations of latent scurvy in the teeth of guinea-pigs. These changes do not seem to be due to vitamin-C deficiency; their specific cause has not yet been determined.