ABSTRACT
Experimental design must be consistent with the objectives. Methodology must be qualitatively specific and quantitatively sensitive to assure a fair and honest assessment of the test premise. Plausible and conservative interpretation of data derived from appropriate experimental trials is the very keystone of the scientific method. Experimental stomatology has made substantial contributions to the knowledge explosion that has been the hallmark of the post-World War II era. It has provided a means of reducing pathological events to examinable components. The broad expanse of oral mucosa acts as a window for the direct visualization of ongoing nutritionally induced disturbances in tissue integrity. The teeth provide a permanent historical record of those nutritional defects that interfered with mineralization during the formative period. The mouth thus acts as a mirror of past and present nutritional derangement. Protein deficiencies in man are invariably accompanied by calorie and/or vitamin deficiencies.
