Cybernetic hypothesis of periodontal disease in mammalian carnivores.

Factors known to govern the pathogenesis of periodontal disease of carnivores are reinterpreted from an ecological perspective. A cybernetic hypothesis is generated which predicts and explains population control mechanisms. Sensitivity to prevailing conditions and the ability to exert a powerful influence upon those conditions is central to the hypothesis. Natural and domestic situations are contrasted with demonstration of a range of immune-mediated conditions arising from a permanent septic focus in the mouths of domestic cats and dogs. The hypothesis is expected to withstand critical scrutiny. In which case a new theory at the heart of a new paradigm will set the future course.