Dental radiology: ageing changes in permanent teeth of beagle dogs

Radiographic interpretation of dental or periodontal disease is dependent in part on an understanding of ageing changes, A progressively ageing colony of healthy beagle dogs (120 to 3759 days) was studied by use of high‐detail radiographs made following the death of the dog. Morphological features whose radiographic appearance was found to be especially age‐dependent were: root canal size, both vertical and horizontal alveolar bone resorption, visualisation of the lamina dura dentis, and detection of hypercementosis. Understanding of these ageing changes is necessary to avoid over‐diagnosis of disease.