DENTAL CARIES IN THE COTTON EAT(9)

ls fed corn flakes were extensively carious, while those of the animals fed whole oats hadlittle decay. The caries scores of the animals fed the wholegrain or processed cereals are summarized in table 1. Thesedata revealed that whole grains were less cariogenic than theprocessed cereals. The average number and extent of thecarious fissures were 50% less when the diet contained wholegrains than when it contained processed cereal products.The variation in caries scores when the diets contained wholegrains and the increased number of fractured cusps whenthe diet contained corn or wheat flakes suggested that someof the caries found accompanying the fractured cusps mayhave been due directly to the fracture, which was an uncontrollable physical variant. The data were recalculated toevaluate the