Cariostatic activity of calcium glycerophosphate in hamsters: topical vs dietary administration.

Two experiments were conducted to determine if calcium glycerophosphate administered continuously in a diet or intermittently as a single daily topical application to teeth had an anticaries potential in young hamsters that were fed a cariogenic diet. The hamsters were inoculated with a caries-conductive streptococcal strain. Within the 60-day experimental period, results of these evaluations indicated calcium glycerophosphate significantly reduces caries when fed in the diet at levels of 1% and higher, and significantly reduces caries when applied topically at levels of 2% and higher. There were no observable differences in plaque formation among treatments.