The Effect of Cadmium on the Production of Caries in the Rat

Abstract

In the course of a study of chronic cadmium poisoning in the rat, Wilson, de Eds and Cox (1) noted that one of the first symptoms was the loss of the normal orange brown pigment of the incisor enamel. Such bleaching of the pigment had long been known to result from chronic fluoride poisoning. Although other conditions also produce this effect, it seemed possible that cadmium, since it is a phosphatase poison like fluorine, might have a similar effect on caries. In accord with this idea, Ginn and Volker (2) fed rats that were on a caries producing diet 0.005% cadmium chloride in both food and drinking water. The cadmium in the food had no observed effect on caries, but the cadmium in the water produced an unexpected increase in the caries index. The authors did not suggest a mechanism for this effect, although they pointed out that the bleaching of the incisor pigment was probably due to interference with iron metabolism, since feeding cadmium was accompanied by a marked decrease in hemoglobin in the blood.