The effects of cheese snacks on caries in desalivated rats.

Rats that had had their submandibular/sublingual glands removed surgically, and their parotid ducts tied, developed fewer and less severe caries lesions on coronal and root surfaces when fed cheese snacks in addition to a cariogenic diet than when fed additional cariogenic snacks or no additional snacks. The effects of cheese snacks were particularly dramatic on root-surface caries. These observations may be relevant for elderly humans who are most likely to develop root surface caries. Populations of Streptococcus mutans did not differ among the groups. Actinomyces viscosus was not detected at the end of the experiment in any of the groups. The results of this study demonstrate that cheese exerts a protective effect against coronal and root-surface caries in rats with a severely limited salivary function.