North American pet ferrets with missing teeth  = 46.5%.
Feral New Zealand ferrets with missing teeth   =  0.0%.
Wild polecats (all combined) with missing teeth = 0.0%.
100% of all animals with missing teeth were pet ferrets.
 
If you really want to investigate the dental health of an animal, count
their teeth.  Teeth are lost for a number of reasons, but in this ferret
study, the main reason they are lost is due to poor dental health
(accident is in distant second place).  46.5% of pet ferrets in the study
were missing at least one tooth, and more than half of that group was
missing at least two teeth.  That is an amazing statistic, and it floored
me.  Missing teeth in mammal populations are frequently described and I
ve seen more than a fair number, but always at a significantly lower
frequency.  To realize nearly half of the skeletons that I inspected
were missing a tooth was quite a kick in the teeth.  It is really
important to understand the vast majority of these teeth are not being
lost from accident, but from periodontal disease and extreme tooth wear.
 
The most commonly lost tooth was the tiny molar in the back of the lower
jaw.  The crown of this tooth is about the size of a head of a straight
pin, and it rapidly wears down in ferrets eating a kibbled diet.  The
second most commonly lost of the ferret s teeth were the upper incisors.
This is probably due entirely to periodontal disease; while these teeth
were extremely worn in some ferrets, in most the wear is minimal.
Strangely, lower incisors are rarely lost.  Premolars and the upper molar
are lost at basically the same rate.  Premolars are probably lost because
of periodontal disease, but sometimes it was because of extreme wear,
especially if the ferret is a cage biter.  Upper molars are almost always
lost as a result of wear; the crown is worn off while eating a kibbled
diet, the dentine wears down until the tooth fractures between the roots,
and then the fragments fall out.  Canines were only infrequently lost,
even if broken or severely damaged.  Generally, if a canine was lost, the
ferret had also lost one or more incisors, or even the front premolar.
 
There is nothing you can do to fix a lost tooth; the only solution is
prevention.  Brush your ferret s teeth daily, have your vet inspect
and clean them periodically; at least once a year.  If you prevent
periodontal disease and take steps to reduce tooth wear, you can prevent
tooth loss.  If not, well, the chances are pretty good your ferret will
be missing at least one tooth before they die; 46.5% did.  That is almost
every other ferret.  You want to know the bad news?  My data are random
and have passed several statistical tests showing they are representative
of the ferret population as a whole.  That means almost half of the
ferrets in North America (USA and Canada) are missing at least one tooth.
 
Recognizing the loss of a canine is simple, but how can you tell if a
ferret is missing one of the other teeth?  The easiest way is to count
them.  The ferret upper jaw has 6 incisors (sometimes 7, very rarely 8),
2 canines, and 4 teeth behind each canine (3 premolars and a molar on
each side).  The lower jaw also has 6 incisors and 2 canines, but it has
5 teeth behind each canine (3 premolars and 2 molars).  The largest cheek
teeth on each side are the carnassials.  In a healthy mouth the cheek
teeth (the carnassials and premolars) are pointed like shark teeth; if
they are flattened then kibble has damaged the tooth.  If you notice your
ferret has fewer teeth than described here, teeth have been lost and it
is quite likely your ferret has serious dental disease.  If you notice
ANY missing teeth or the teeth are no longer pointed, but flattened, have
your vet inspect the ferret s mouth for periodontal disease (they SHOULD
take an x-ray to look for resorbed bone around the teeth), abscesses, or
other oral disease.
 
In most instances, the loss of a tooth does not have a significant impact
on the long-term health of the ferret, PROVIDING you have taken steps to
correct existing dental disease.  Remember, a lost tooth in a pet ferret
is generally a symptom of advanced periodontal disease or extreme dental
wear, so the ferret is telling you something when you notice a tooth
missing.  If you don t pay heed, expect to lose more teeth and worse.  Of
all the teeth, losing the carnassials has the most negative impact.  If a
ferret loses one or two on the same side it is bad news, but the ferret
still has the pair on the opposite side.  If a ferret loses one on each
side, the ability to consume kibble will be greatly impacted, and the
ferret will shift the bulk of the crunching work to other teeth that are
less capable of handling the load.  If the ferret loses any of their
molars, then the entire workload for crunching kibble is placed on the
carnassials, greatly increasing wear and tear.  It is better to prevent
these problems than to try and learn to live with them.
 
In the next installment, I will discuss broken teeth in ferrets.
 
Bob C
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[Posted in FML issue 4519]