Soft diet causes greater alveolar osteopenia in the mandible than in the maxilla

Abstract

Objective: To investigate changes in the bony microstructure of the upper and lower alveolar bone during masticatory loading induced by soft diet feeding in growing rats.

Design: Three-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups. Rats were fed with either pellets [control group (n=6)] or a soft diet [experimental group (n=6)] for nine weeks. 3D-microstructure of the alveolar bone of the first molar region (M1) was examined by micro-CT analysis.

Results: Micro-CT images showed increased marrow spaces of the inter-radicular alveolar bone around the rat mandibular M1 in the experimental group compared with that in the control group. The bone volume/tissue volume ratio, trabecular thickness, trabecular number, mean intercept length, trabecular width and trabecular star volume for the mandibular M1 inter-radicular alveolar bone were lower in the experimental group than in the control group. Marrow space star volume was increased in the experimental group compared with the control group.

Conclusions: These results suggest that alveolar osteopenia is more extensive in the mandible than the maxilla in rats that experience low masticatory loading during growth.