Abstract
Summary
The activity of the thyroid gland appears to be directly related to the incidence of dental caries in the rat, for thyroxine injected significantly decreases the caries rate and radiothyroidectomy significantly increases it. The thyroid hormone appears to be primarily involved since the increased caries rate resulting from radiothyroidectomy is directly counteracted by the administration of thyroxine. Testosterone similarly appears to play a role in this mechanism, since the dental caries rate is also significantly reduced when it is injected into radiothyroidectomized animals even in the absence of thyroxine.
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