COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE INFLUENCE OF ANTIBIOTIC SUBSTANCES IN DENTAL CARIES IN THE WHITE RAT AND THE COTTON RAT

¹ Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Mass.

Panthenol, bacitracin, Aureomycin, an animal protein factor concentrate containing Aureomycin, streptomycin, penicillin, subtilin, Terramycin, Chloromycetin, tyrothricin, and indole were tested as additions to a cariogenic diet for their ability to alter the rate of initiation and progression of carious lesions in cotton rats, intact white rats, and desalivated white rats. Penicillin was the most effective in reducing the dental caries incidence in both species. Aureomycin, Chloromycetin, streptomycin, Terramycin, and indole were moderately effective. Panthenol, tyrothricin, subtilin, and bacitracin were only slightly effective or were completely ineffective.

Species differences between the cotton rat and the white rat were observed for the degree of influence upon caries incidence produced by penicillin, Terramycin, indole, Aureomycin, and streptomycin.

No correlation was observed between simple in vitro tests with these antibiotics and their effectiveness in animal trials.