STUDIES ON THE DENTITION OF THE CYNOMOLGUS MONKEY

¹ Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Mass.

The dentition of 17 cynomolgus monkeys was studied. Only 5 of the animals examined were caries-free—either the very young ones or those which were captured when adult, with all permanent teeth erupted.

This species has quite steeply cusped posterior teeth, sometimes with lack of enamel at the fusion points of developmental lobes. These factors might facilitate the initiation of carious lesions.

Periodontal structures did not show any pathosis in 16 of the animals. Only one adult had calculus deposits and some alveolar bone recession.

Orthodontic discrepancies were observed in 2 of the animals examined.

This species may become of major importance in dental research due to the fairly high susceptibility to dental caries. In addition, this species is appreciably smaller than the common rhesus monkey and breeds reasonably well in the laboratory when maintained on purified diets.