Effect of Diet Consistency on Rat Mandibular Growth: A Geometric Morphometric and Linear Cephalometric Study

Simple Summary Craniofacial growth is affected by different environmental factors. One of these factors that seems to affect mandibulofacial growth is mastication. Diet consistency leads to different masticatory forces during mastication. Various researchers looked over the effect of diet consistency on craniofacial growth and more specifically on the mandible. The question of how diet consistency affects mandibular growth is still controversial since various studies had different results on that aspect. The results of this study support that there is a major effect of diet consistency on mandibular morphology. Thus, it contributes to a better understanding of evolution of mandibular growth. Background: Our study intended to investigate the null hypothesis that there is no effect of diet consistency on rat mandibular growth. Methods: A total sample of 24 female wistar rats, 30 days old, was used in this study. In the first group, the rats were fed soft diet and in the second group, they were fed hard diet for 60 days. On the 60th day, the rats were sedated and lateral cephalometric X-rays were taken. Lateral cephalometric X-rays were digitized with 7 craniofacial landmarks for the linear measurements, as well as with 12 curves and 90 landmarks, of which 74 were semilandmarks and 16 were fixed landmarks for morphometric analysis. These landmarks were exposed to Procrustes superimposition and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to describe the shape variability of the mandible. Results: Means measurements of the soft diet group compared to those of the hard diet group were significantly different in linear and morphometric analysis measurements. The soft diet group of wistar rats revealed significant changes on the condyle (smaller), the angle of the mandible, and on the body of the mandible. Conclusions: Diet consistency affects the craniofacial growth of rats. Soft diet could be responsible for less mandibular growth.