T]HE enzymatic breakdown of carbohydrates in the diet to acid products in direct contact with the tooth is an essential pathogenic stage in the mechanism of beginning caries. Consequently, the question is raised as to the possibilities of inhibiting this chain of reactions through local application of drugs either through direct application or by mixture with the diet.The glycolysis on a tooth surface follows essentially the same course as the enzymatic action on carbohydrates and their intermediary products in the digestive apparatus. Consequently, inhibition of the oral enzyme activity can also produce a nondesirable toxic effect in the function of the organism.'2 This investigation is an experimental study on rats, attempting to clarify the quantitative data required for a determination of dosage and effects.The specific enzyme inhibiting effect of iodoacetic acid (I-ac) has been employed in the study of glycolysis according to Meyerhof's'5 system and, for example, employed experimentally in investigations of the intermediary carbohydrate metabolism in muscle by Lundsgaard'5' 16 and others. In view of the fact that the caries process implies an enzymatic breakdown of carbohydrates on the tooth surface, Miller19 concluded that the inhibiting effect of I-ac (and fluorides) would influence dental caries. In his experiment on rats with the administration of the afore-mentioned drugs in both food and water, a marked caries inhibition was noted. McClure and Arnold17 repeated these experiments on, a larger scale and clearly confirmed the conclusions drawn by Miller. Dale and Keyes4 demonstrated the same inhibitory effect on the caries process in the Syrian hamster. Dale and Powell3 obtained a comparatively greater inhibitory effect in their rat experiment when administering I-ac in the food than when administering it with the drinking water. The same authors20 demonstrated the cariesinhibitory effect by parenteral administration of sodium iodoacetate. In experiments by Dale5 with parenteral administration in desalivated rats, some inhibition was noted, yet not enough to fully explain an endogenous effect via the tooth's own nutrition. The investigation by Thomassen and Leicester21 with radioactive iodine in the I-ac seems, however, to support the opinion that
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