Caries prevention in rats by fluoride varnish treatment combined with addition of fluoride to dietary sugar.

Osborne-Mendel rats were fed a cariogenic diet containing 43% sucrose for 48 days. The control group received no additional treatment. The teeth of the second group received topical treatment with a sodium fluoride varnish which was applied twice onto newly-erupted molars. The third group received topical treatment with the sodium fluoride varnish combined with a NaF + Mg addition to the diet. In both treatment groups, caries was significantly reduced as compared with caries in the control group. Combined treatment was significantly more effective than was the varnish alone. In spite of the high fluoride concentration in the varnish, no changes in the oral mucosa were found at the end of the study.