Acidogenic Potential of Cariogenic and Noncariogenic Diets in the Rat

¹ Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, and Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California 92354, USA

No significant difference in lactic acid content was observed in food residues removed from the occlusal grooves of rats receiving Purina lab chow or the 62% sucrose cariogenic diet. The incubation of rat saliva with Purina chow, with 62% sucrose diet, or with the 62% sucrose diet supplemented with carbamyl phosphate, egg shell meal, and the trace elements zinc, molybdenum, and chromium produced in 24 hours essentially the same pH curve. The terminal titratable acidity observed in saliva incubated with the 62% unsupplemented diet, however, was significantly less than that produced in salivary mixtures containing either Purina chow or supplemented sucrose diets.