Table 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of select animal models for studying periodontal disease development.

Animal model	Advantages	Disadvantages
Nonhuman primates	Similar dental structure, microflora, and disease to humans'. Natural or experimentally induced periodontitis.	Very expensive, with ethical and husbandry issues
Dogs	Develop natural or experimental periodontitis similar to humans	Relatively expensive, need special daily care, husbandry issues. Dentition different from humans.
Miniature pigs	Dental structure and periodontitis have some similarity to humans'. Natural or experimentally induced periodontitis.	Relatively expensive, husbandry issues; relatively few studies
Ferrets	Naturally or experimentally induced disease with similarity to humans'	Some husbandry issues
Rodents	Experimentally induced disease. Similar molar structure to humans'. Inexpensive model	Naturally resistant to periodontitis. Different microbiota from humans'. Small size and therefore amount of tissue for analysis. Large number of animals needed