Effects of systemic cortisone on the healing of tooth sockets in rats. A histologic study.

Young male rats were divided randomly into experimental and control groups of twenty-seven each. Animals in the experimental group received daily subcutaneous injections of cortisone, in dosages sufficient to allow only slight gains in weight during the 38--day study period, whereas animals in the control group received a similar volume of saline solution. All injections were started 3 days before the upper right first molars were extracted. Histologic evaluation of the sockets of animals killed at intervals during healing showed no significant differences between the experimental and control groups.