Dietary influences on the formation of dental calculus in rats

Eleven diets were evaluated for their ability to produce dental calculus in albino rats. A diet containing 50 % cornstarch, 32 % nonfat dry milk, 3 % liver powder, 5 % celluflour, 1 % cottonseed oil, 5 % powdered sucrose, 1 % calcium chloride dihydrate, 2.7 % sodium dihydrogen phosphate monohydrate, and 0.3 % magnesium sulfate (Francis and Briner 1969) was remarkably effective. On the basis of a 0–3 calculus scoring system, an average score of 2.36 (S.D. = 0.65) resulted after 4 weeks' exposure to the above diet and, after 8 weeks, the average score was 2.59 (S.D. = 0.56).
While it was found that, in general, high cornstarch and milk powder diets were associated with higher calculus scores, no other diet remotely approached the above diet in calculogenicity.