To Linda Doran:
 
>I, too, never found the baby teeth anywhere so I could have the tooth
>ferret come and get them and leave a treat in their place.  Hmmmm ...  I
>always wondered what happened to them.  Maybe she DID swallow them -- why
>waste calcium.
 
     Teeth are generally swallowed and passed by animals.  The enamel is
too hard to digest.  Only rarely will you find one around the house.  I
think I found one or two from my two dogs when they lost theirs two years
ago, but that's pretty rare.
 
     The motivation for animals to lose their teeth is pressure from
benieath by the emerging adult teeth.  This pressure causes resorption of
the small roots of the deciduous teeth.  If you every find one, you'll
notice that it really doesn't have any roots.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
Dept. of Vet Path, AFIP
[log in to unmask]  OR
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
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[Posted in FML issue 1269]