THE EFFECT OF EDTA ON THE PATTERN OF CARIES DEVELOPMENT AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH BIOLOGIC CHANGES IN THE RAT

¹ National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, U. S. Public Health Service, Bethesda, Md.

The pattern of dental caries which developed on a fine-particle Diet 580 was different from that of coarse-particle Diet 585. The animals on Diet 580 developed more carious lesions on the circumferential surfaces and less of the severe occlusal fissure lesions than did those on Diet 585. A study of the hemisectioned jaws revealed a large number of small sulcal lesions in the animals on both diets but a greater number on Diet 585. The addition of 0.2 per cent EDTA to either of these diets was associated with an increase in caries activity primarily on the circumferential surfaces. The animals which died early showed as much or more caries activity, and in a shorter period of time, than those which were sacrificed at the end of the experiment.