Elongated tooth roots

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This topic has 3sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 9 months ago by Muchelle.

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- 08/31/2017 at 2:41 PM
  Scrumples
  Participant
  1 posts
  Hello I am new to this site and sadly its due to dental issues with my 3 year old French Lop Scrumples. Around 3 week ago he had the typical signs of spurs, wet chin, refused all food, and sat hunched up. We took him in for a dental and he had his molars burred down to below the gum line. Once we got him home he was a little groggy but started to tuck into kale straight away which I was really pleased about.
  
  However he stayed this way for 2 week and would only eat soft foods like veg, and plants in the garden, I was up day abnd night syringe feeding critical care. We had numerous trips to the vets who I was told was rabbit savvy (trns out they wasn’t) who prescribed metoclopramind and ranitidine along with metacam as they were unsure what the problem was and kept saying it could be his mouth is still a little sore from the dental. It was only because I pushed the issue that we had some xrays done and it has shown he has elongated tooth roots on one of his upper molars.
  
  I have since made an appointment with a small animals specialist and had all his medical history sent across to them, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with elongated molar roots, and could advise what treatments are available and rough ideas of costs. We did have a breakthrough last Friday and he started eating his pellets on his own, the only thing he won’t eat now is hay. In himself he is quite bright and clinically well, we even had 2 binkies the other day, however I can see he sometimes has difficulty chewing, and is sometimes in pain, but not as much as he used to be.
  
  Any advice or experience in this would be very gratefully received. He is my little baby and due to having to live with my partners parents for a while, and his mum being ‘allergic’ to pet hair, I am currently sleeping in the garage with him to make sure he is ok through the night.. I get a little paranoid about him
- 08/31/2017 at 4:01 PM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5837 posts
  I’m sorry to hear about Scrumples. Unfortunately, I have no experience, but I did find this website that seems to have some helpful information: http://binkyabout.com/elongated-molars-dental-disease-in-rabbits/
  
  I also found this old forum post regarding a member who had their rabbit go through a molar extraction:
  https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/161833/Default.aspx
  
  — My unexperienced, candid, non-professional opinion is: 3yrs seems young-ish, and it Scrumples is relatively healthy, and there’s only one overgrown tooth root, perhaps a molar extraction is the way to go. Based on cursory research, it seems, depending on the upper tooth, an overgrown root can end up growing into the rabbit’s eyeball essentially, causing watery eyes and severe pain. It also seems the operation and post-care requires extreme stringency, on your part (after care) and the vet’s (the procedure), so if you find a vet who has real experience and is confident, perhaps this is an avenue you can take.
  
  I will also point out that overgrown roots can be a genes problem, so don’t blame yourself. You did a great job pushing forward and getting the xray.
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 08/31/2017 at 9:25 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17249 posts
  Wooly has tooth root problems. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done except treat the secondary symptoms. Severity can vary a lot. In Wooly’s case, it isn’t horrible. He has irritation of his sinuses as a result. Every once in awhile, bacterial builds up and he gets a URI. He gets antibiotics, he gets better, then the whole process repeats. The infection did make it to his ear at one point (via the tube that connects the sinuses to his ear). This resulted in some facial paralysis on that side. It’s more or less permanent. But he has been pretty consistent and stable… so we just continue to do what we do. It’s important to note that the visible portions of his teeth are fine. He doesn’t have tooth spurs or anything like that.
  
  You said Scrumples is 3 years old, that’s about the right time for genetic tooth problems to surface. If it’s just one tooth causing the problem and it’s interfering with his eye, you might be able to have it extracted. But having teeth extracted can cause other problems too. So there are a lot of factors to take into consideration. You may just have to have regular tooth trims combined with symptom management. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful.
- 09/01/2017 at 7:31 AM
  Muchelle
  Participant
  1141 posts
  My bun is a dental bun and he has one root that causes clogs up on one of his tear ducts, so I have to squeeze the tears out manually or his face becomes a hot sticky mess. Once he’s recovered from the molar filing, check how he fares (you might want to give him pressed hay pellets, they’re fantastic to help the bun keep the teeth in check, I use Bunny’s Bunny Traum). It could be worth seeing what does the root do: it can be it stops growing once the molars are in check or it can be it will bring problems in the future. My personal advice is to extract the tooth only when really necessary: my bun had 2 exctracted and the post-op was so painful and rough that he almost died even though he’s a super resilient bunny…
  So, patience, pressed hay and normal hay and take him to get his teeth filed immediately as soon as you recognize the symptoms. It’s stressful but it’s better than an extraction in my opinion
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