Bob, marvelous controls and checks of measurement consistency! How do the ages of the domestic vs. feral populations differ? (I'm sure that info will be in the final work because it is one of those "oh so common" types of questions.) Are there margins of error numbers on estimates of age (domestic and feral, and how they may differ in this regard)? Were zoological park polecats and ferrets on same diet an from same location (if available) compared for some baselines from that perspective?) I'm curious about the plague mechanism (salivary mineral content? waste product residue from bacterial growth in absence of enough salivation? other?) for those with gastric tubes and how it differs from the typical plaques seen. Also, not having had any with gastric tubes is the seal tight enough or can reflux occur at times with those and if so how much? (How variable?) Once it is published plaque amounts could be used to argue against the "feral" claims such as those which CA F&G has made about some escaped domestics found. "Show the teeth." could become a common refrain with valuable results to the ferret community. I've often wondered if the carapaces of some insects such as mealworm larvae may be useful for dental polishing. Has that been looked at? How do they fare? Too pliable? We've seen improvement with tough gelatin chews but the amount has varied greatly (no exaggeration in saying "greatly") among individuals, from almost no plaque remaining to almost no difference. (Right now we dare not have them due to a boy with IBD liking them too greatly and not coping well with them.) How much do the hardness and brittleness of plaque vary among individuals? We have noticed that some individuals seem to form more brittle plaque which is much more easily dislodged, and that ferret plaque seems more brittle to us than out own when we've had it. Is the plaque of animals relying on mechanical approaches (I LIKE the hypothesis of mechanism!) typically more brittle than in species which use a more chemical approach? If so, I could see that as a supportive argument for your hypothesis, though its absence would not be a negation for obvious reasons. Do cingulae which may contribute to building plaque and the difficulty removing plaque differ between the ferals and domestics? Ditto deep enough tooth scratches/breaks? Is ferret enamel more vulnerable to such damage, or is the kibble diet more likely to create them? Some questions likely can't be answered now. That's understood. Not a problem. Hoping I haven't posed questions you want to avoid having aired yet. Just asking in case... [Posted in FML issue 4518]