[Effect of sugar-exchange fructose, sorbitol and xylitol on the incidence of caries anddental plaque flora of the rat].

The cariogenicity of fructose, sorbitol, and xylite in chocolate bars as against that of sucrose was tested by ad libitum and programmed feeding of rats. After both types of feeding, the sucrose-containing feed showed the strongest cariogenicity and the xylite-containing feed the weakest cariogenicity. At the end of the test, s.mutans bacteria were found most frequently in the dental plaques of the sucrose animals, while it was not possible to demonstrate the existence of such germs in the xylite animals.