The growth of discrete areas in rat teeth after irradiating the head region of 8-day-old rats

The aim of our present investigation is to quantitatively analyse the development of discrete areas of rat teeth after the head region of 8-day-old rats is exposed to a single high X-ray dose of 2581 x 10-4 C/Kg. Individual radiographs of lower jaws of animals killed at the ages of 42 and 57 days were made. The following parameters were measured from each radiograph: 1. Thickness of incisor at two points, 2. Length of first molar roots. At 42 and even more so at 57 days of age, the values of the measured parameters were significantly smaller in the irradiated animals than in the non-irradiated controls. Our results show that after applying a single high dose of X-rays to the head region of young rats, the growth of teeth and supporting structures is significantly retarded (author)