Growth of Rats' Lower Incisor Teeth after Unilateral Section of Alveolar Nerve

¹ Department of Embryology and Histology, Dental School, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Experimental section of lower alveolar nerve was undertaken to study the effects on the incisor tooth eruption rate. It was sectioned from an inferior aspect through the internal pterygoid muscle. Two techniques were employed in order to measure the incisor tooth eruption rate. Weekly averages, linear fitted equations of trend, and correlation were studied in operated, sham-operated, and control rats.

The results showed that the lower incisor teeth in the operated side erupted at the same rate as the same tooth of sham-operated and control rats. The heterolateral lower incisor teeth of operated rats showed a strongly decreased eruption rate; the angle coefficient of the linear fitted equations of trend was the only negative found; correlation between left and right incisor tooth eruption rate of operated rats was not significant.

The decreased incisor tooth eruption rate in the heterolateral incisor teeth of operated rats was the main reason for the explanation of several authors who stated that the operated side incisor teeth had an increased eruption rate after alveolar nerve section, because they used the heterolateral incisor teeth as control, discarding the possibility of bilateral effects.