Metabolic and histological features of dental tissue in adult rat offspring in maternal hypokinesia

Abstract

Dental caries is one of the most common diseases worldwide whose occurrence in children and adolescents has dramatically increased over the past 10 years. It is important to gain better understanding of causes, risk actors, preventions, and associations of tooth decay. This study elucidates a possible mechanism for the predisposition for tooth decay in postnatal ontogenesis in the offspring of hypokinetic pregnant females with regard to the biochemical features of hard dental tissues, calcium-regulating hormones, and histological examination of both hard dental tissues and tooth pulp. Maternal hypokinesia during pregnancy leads to several deficiencies in the progeny, including hypoplasia of odontoblasts and dentinal tubules of teeth, decreases in the collagen levels in dentin, low blood serum levels of parathyroid hormone, and decreases in calcium concentrations in serum and hard dental tissues, all of which determine predisposition to tooth decay. Therefore, maternal hypokinesia during pregnancy is a risk factor for increased dental caries development in the offspring.