Wal, Eyes down heer in Tex-ass.  Yippie.  Looking forward to visiting
several FMLers in a few hours (I warned them).  Stole this computer terminal
from Rice University, but will give it back when I leave.
 
I had three e-mails regarding teeth, cavities and all that rot.  I have seen
thousands of jaws and teeth, and tha pathology is usually limited to wear;
the teeth simply wear down during the animal's life.
 
The second most common problem is bone abcesses related to extreme wear or
caries (or some other related process).
 
Broken teeth, usually the canines come in third, followed by caries.  I do
not rate missing teeth, unless the reason is apparent.
 
Animals with the most caries include bear and raccoon, with raccoon having
the worst teeth.  Both eat human food (garbage) frequently, and also chew on
hard objects such as cans, food containers, etc., which crack or slipt
teeth.  Shunk have cavities on occasion, but far less frequently.
 
Excluding bears and racoons, it is the rare wild carnivore who has cavities
(usually tooth fracture related), although pet cats and dogs have horrible
dental health.  Nasty!  (I can sort out 100% of modern dog skulls from those
dating more than a century ago just by looking at the dental wear and plaque
buildup.) Ranch mink and ferrets seem about equal; most of the damage is
abrasion to the teeth from the dry pellets, but also some canine damage from
wire cages/play.  Just an extimate, but I would think the wear rates of the
teeth of animals fed dry pellets could be as much as 2-3 times as much as
those fed a natural diets consisting of small rodents (I believe this was
first noted by Poole, but I'm not at home to check the reference).
 
Tooth discoloration usually means the root is damaged, infected or dead.
The tooth itself is very fragile, and can easily be broken, but with care,
the tooth can remain useful in the mouth for a long time.  If you notice
such a tooth, press the jaw above/below the root to test for abcesses
(emergency treatment) but even if you don't find one, let the vet check as
well on a periodic basis.  Bad breath can indicate an infective process in
the mouth.
 
As for ferrets eating raisins, I don't see it as much of a problem if they
are also eating a dry pelleted food, because the pellets tend to knock stuff
of the teeth.  Mine have been eating meat, bone, dry pellets, raisins and
other fruit, nuts (love sunflower seeds), and berreis, and none have
cavities or plaque.  If you worry about it, you can train them to let you
brush their teeth (I trained Apollo to allow this--his upper canines were
clipped off by a previous owner).
 
Sorry for the mispelling and goofs; I hate IBMs, and this program won't
let me make corrections.
 
Bob minus the 13 Ferrets in Missoury
[Posted in FML issue 1562]