A computer program designed for the analysis of data from rat caries studies

The Keyes method for scoring dental caries in the rat animal model has been used as the basis for a computer-assisted scoring system on the Apple Macintosh personal computer that is described here. The program provides the ability to draw on diagrams of the rat molar dentition and to enter enamel lesion scores (L, E) and dentinal lesion scores (Ds, Dm, and Dx) for all aspects of the molars. The scores and drawings may be changed at any time. Total carious teeth and totals of L, E, Ds, Dm, and Dx are automatically calculated and presented upon user command. Error trapping for typographical errors is provided. In addition, the program provides automatic storage of the collected information, searching and sorting on any of the experimental parameters and on-disk help files that can be accessed from any place within the program. The capacity to obtain printed copy of any or all of the stored information is provided in the program. The program also enables the creation of external data files containing totals for carious teeth, in addition to L, E, Ds, Dm, and Dx totals for each animal of each group represented in the data base. These files are suitable for the transfer of data to commercially available programs for graphical and statistical analyses. The programming technique we describe could be extended to other model systems with standardized scoring for oral disease.