Dear Urban,
 
>Anyone out there has any experience with the brushing of teeth?
>Does it do any good, and how should you do it?
 
I assume that you mean brushing _ferret's_ teeth :)  Actually, yes,
although I didn't do it myself.  I had noticed that the bottom half of
Otto's teeth had become quite brown, so I took him to the vet (at the
University of Wisconsin at Madison Veterinary School).  The procedure
was quite simple.  They anaesthetized him, and removed the built-up
tartar with some kind of ultrasonic device.  They touched each tooth,
and the plaque flaked right off.  It's a procedure the vet didn't
recommend more than once in a ferret's lifetime, since anaesthesia is
always risky for the little guys.
 
Since he had a heart murmur, they prescribed antibiotics for a few days
ahead of the procedure.  They do this in humans, too.  During a dental
procedure, even routine teeth cleaning, bacteria that normally live in
the mouth can get into the bloodstream through little cuts made with the
dentists' picks.  In someone with a heart murmur, the blood doesn't move
through the heart efficiently, and a little of it stays behind.  The
bacteria can also stay behind, and infect the heart and weaken it
further.
 
I don't recommend brushing your ferrets' teeth.  Feed them some dry food
(mine get dry food in the morning, and wet in the evening), which helps
keep the teeth clean, and if the teeth get very brown, ask your vet if
they need to be cleaned.
 
Anon.
[Posted in FML issue 0419]