Yep, kibble doesn't do a thing for dental health. Neither does canned. The only diet that truly supports a healthy carnivorous mouth is one that includes ripping, tearing and scissoring through meat, skin, tendons and bones... in other words, a non-ground raw diet: Colyer Institute, "
Influence of diet consistency on periodontal disease in captive carnivores".
Highlights from the study:
Wet foods: "Soft diets tend to produce more bacterial plaque than do firm diets."
Kibble: "Excessively course, granular diets can produce periodontal disease through the action of abrasive overuse of, and by direct traumatic injury to the supporting tissues of the oral cavity."
"Foods of firm consistency will increase the number, distribution, and tone of the capillaries in the gingival tissue; which improves the metabolism and vitality of all of the supporting and surrounding structures of the oral cavity."
"The degree of keratinization of the stratified squamous epithelium in the mouth, which affords protection against trauma and other injurious agents, is affected by the frictional qualities of the diet."
"Chewing, by its mechanical action produces a compression and expansion of the periodontal ligament space around the teeth which, in turn, promotes formation of a dense fibrous suspensory structure by increasing both circulation and fibroblastic activity."
"The width of the periodontal ligament, a measure of its health, is directly related to the intensity of the mastication function."
AC