The Effects of Calcium Acid Phosphate on Dental Caries in Children: A Controlled Clinical Trial

¹ Clinical Investigations Branch, National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and Henry Phipps Institute and School of Dentistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Laboratory of Nutrition, National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

A total of 732 children in eight boarding schools in North Dakota and South Dakota remained in continuous residence for 3 consecutive years. Of these, 350, residing in two parochial and two government schools, consumed bread which contained 2 per cent CaHPO₄, and 370, in two parochial and two government schools, consumed ordinary bread. At the end of 3 consecutive years there were no differences in DMFT or DMFS increments between the control and experimental schools. There were no differences in DMFT or DMFS rates between control and experimental groups by age; nor were there any differences in mean DMFS or DMFT when the experimental and control groups were compared in 1959 and again in 1962.

It would appear from the data obtained during this experiment that the effectiveness of dietary supplementation with CaHPO₄ in humans as provided in the diet under the conditions of this study does not follow the pattern established for experimental animals.