North American pet ferrets with reactive bone   = 72.3%.
Feral New Zealand ferrets with reactive bone    =  2.3%.
Wild polecats (all combined) with reactive bone = 12.5%.
97.3% of all animals with reactive bone were ferrets.
 
Periodontal disease is an inflammation or infection of the tissues that
support the teeth, including the gums, bone, cement, and ligaments.
Infections can move from the gum side of the tooth and down the exterior
of the root to infect the interior of the jaw.  Periodontal disease
destroys bone tissue and weakens the ligaments that hold teeth in place,
so if your ferret has it, they will lose some of their teeth.  In humans,
periodontal disease is considered one of the most common diseases of
modern civilization and if I had to guess, I would suspect the same is
true of ferrets.  Symptoms of periodontal disease include bleeding gums,
abscesses, swollen oral tissues, loose or missing teeth, pain when eating
(or various degrees of anorexia), clawing at the mouth, long-term slow
weight loss, sensitive teeth, and bad breath or halitosis (some of might
note many of the symptoms are the same as those for stomach ulcers, and
some studies suggest the two MAY be connected).  Periodontal disease has
been linked in humans and numerous animals (including ferrets) to several
organ diseases, including diseases of the spleen, stomach, liver, lungs,
kidney, and heart, widespread low-grade systemic infections, bone disease
(osteomyelitis), and auto-immunity disorders such as arthritis or
irritable bowel syndrome.  The lost teeth and associated pain can result
in malnutrition, or long-term weight loss; it has been termed by some to
be the original wasting disease.  Periodontal disease isn t just a
cosmetic third-world question of appearance, but a serious disease, long
ignored and greatly under-appreciated, and it s time veterinarians and
ferret-owners alike start taking it seriously.  It is a safe guess that
more ferrets suffer and die from the complications of periodontal disease
than adrenal disease; it is just that it is not being properly diagnosed.
 
Because a skeleton lacks the soft tissues that are used as the primary
indicator of periodontal disease, you can t use the presence of red or
bleeding gums to quantify the number of ferrets with the disease.
However, because periodontal disease is destructive of bone, you can
quantify periodontal disease in skeletons by looking for the presence
of something called reactive bone .  The incidence of dental calculus
(tartar) is not by itself an indication of periodontal disease.  They are
correlated, true, but you cannot assume that one must be represented for
the other to be present; you can conceivably have one without the other
for any number of reasons.  A better indication is the condition of the
bone around the tooth sockets, especially the alveolar crests, and along
the gum line.  Healthy bone is smooth, does not have a rough, pitted
appearance, and covers the root to the gumline.  Periodontal disease
causes reactive changes to the jaw bones, including recession of the
bone making up the margins of the alveolar crests, pits and other
irregularities, thickening, lipping, dehiscence, flaking, and roughening.
Roots are exposed to some degree and sections of the bone forming the
socket or jaw may be missing entirely.  On x-rays, the bone lacks density
and has pulled away from the roots.  There may be subtle swellings
indicating the presence of hidden or deep abscesses.  In this study, in
every single instance where reactive bone was seen the best indicator of
periodontal disease in a skeleton dental calculus was also present.  If
your ferret has significant dental calculus and you can see a space
between the gums and the crown of the tooth, it probably has serious
periodontal disease and it is time to see a vet.
 
The measurement of periodontal disease in ferret skeletons will always
result in a measurement that is undercounted because not all degrees of
periodontal disease will be reflected in a ferret s skeleton.  Some
instances of periodontal disease will not be of long enough duration or
be severe enough to cause enough reactive changes to be visible on the
bone.  Those are the under-counted individuals; they have disease, but it
is not visible in the skeleton.  With that in mind, it is apparent those
individuals that HAVE demonstrable reactive bone changes in the jaws must
have had a long-term chronic disease condition, a short-term acute one,
or some combination; all indicate a serious disease condition.  This
study showed 72.3% of all ferrets had reactive bone associated with
periodontal disease.  That means those poor ferrets have suffered
discomfort, even pain, from the disease for some time.
[Posted in FML issue 4518]