Influence of Anion-Exchange Resins on Experimental Dental Caries and Tooth Eruption

¹ Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts

Postdevelopmental supplements of anion-exchange resins with widely varying basicity at 20 per cent levels in the diet caused major and highly significant reductions in dental caries incidence as long as the resins were fed in their hydroxyl forms. However, replacement of the hydroxyl ions with chloride or combinations of chloride, citrate, and lactate, to saturate the anion-exchange capacity of the resins, also nullified their caries-inhibiting properties and caused delays in eruption of the third molars and retarded rates of incisor eruption. Under some circumstances, the saturated resins postdevelopmentally caused increases in caries activity.

A 20 per cent level of resin 2 in its hydroxyl form during the reproductive cycle resulted in only slightly lower weaning weights and a slight delay in third molar eruption among the offspring but had no demonstrable influence on their caries susceptibility. The same level of resin 2 in its saturated form during the reproductive cycle caused only greater reductions in weaning weights and a modest delay in eruption of the third molars but no demonstrable influence on caries activity among the offspring. Supplements of 10 per cent of either form of resin 2 during the reproductive cycle had no adverse influence on the offspring except for mild reductions in weaning weights by the saturated resin.