10 



Effect of Hibernation on Tooth Structure 

 and Dental Caries 



WILLIAM V. MAYER, Department of Biology, Wayne State University, 

 Detroit, Michigan 



SOL BERNICK, Department of Anatomy, University of Southern Cah- 

 fornia, Los Angeles, California 



AT A TIME when the pubhc press, popular science writers, and 

 even some professional scientists have speculated on hibernation as a 

 mechanism whereby humans could travel great distances through 

 space in the state of torpor accompanying the phenomenon of hiber- 

 nation, it is strange that we have so little evidence of the effect of 

 hibernation on the morphology and physiology of mammals. The 

 studies of Mayer ( 1960 ) and Mayer and Bernick have dealt with 

 aspects of hibernation in relation to the structure and function of 

 endocrine glands (1959), the digestive system (1958), and protein 

 and carbohydrate metabolism (1957). Almost nothing, however, is 

 known of the effect of hibernation on bones and teeth. 



Sarnat and Hook, in 1942, concluded that all stages of tooth de- 

 velopment, including growth, calcification, and eruption, were se- 

 verely retarded in proportion to the time the animal was in hiberna- 

 tion. However, they made no detailed histological studies of the 

 effects of hibernation on tooth and bone development. The study 

 of Richardson et al. ( 1961 ) did not provide unequivocal evidence 

 regarding the effect of hibernation on the dental tissues of the 13- 



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