The effect of dietary xylitol on dentin formation in ovariectomized rats

Twenty-nine 3-month-old female Wistar rats were labeled by means of a single intraperitoneal tetracycline injection. Nineteen animals were subsequently ovariectomized, whereas a control group of 10 animals underwent sham operations. All the animals received the basal diet, and 10 of the ovariectomized animals were given an additional dietary xylitol supplementation (5%). Three months later the animals were killed by decapitation, and dentinal apposition on the molars was measured. The results indicate that supplementation of the diet with 5% xylitol had an attenuating effect on the enhanced dentin formation caused by ovariectomy, but the mechanism remains unsolved.