STUDIES ON EFFECT OF GONADECTOMY ON DENTAL CARIES ACTIVITY IN WHITE RATS AND IN COTTON RATS

¹ Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass.

The influence of gonadectomy upon the dental caries activity has been studied in caries-susceptible white rats and cotton rats which were fed a highly purified caries-producing diet.

In both species, there was a consistent tendency toward a lesser average incidence of tooth decay in the gonadectomized rodents than in the intact littermates. The reduction in dental caries incidence was appreciably higher among orchidectomized males than among ovariectomized females. No difference was observed between the average dental caries activity in males and females for each species.