teeth problems

[Metalheadbunny]

Basil bunny has teeth issues...! he was born with deformed teeth other than that he's perfectly healthy .His bottom teeth are in front of his back im not shure what to do. The town i live at his quite small and i don't trust the two vets that live here. I took him to an old breeder who had been showing and rasing rabbits for thirty years. She told me i can clip his overgrown teeth with wire cutters, and that he should be fine, im worried that it will make the problem worse, can anyone give me tips?

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

first off he needs to be seen by a qualified, bunny savy vet to asses the problem, to check the back teeth and to teach you to do it properly. There are people on RO who do not believe in doing it your self and others who do, it is a preference if you ask me. I had a lop who had Malo and i took him faithfuly every 4-6 weeks to get his teeth trimmed, the vet showed me how to do it, i tried a few times but was too much of a spaz to do it myself. With trimming them there is always the risk of clipping them below the gum line, or cracking the tooth to the root and causing a possible abcess, which is not good. Some vets want to put a rabbit under everytime they do it , but to Me that is too much to keep putting a rabbit under anesthesia, i would only do something like that if it was the only option.

If your rabbits teeth are , or i should say that his jaw most likely isnt lined up right you are going to have to monitor and watch his back teeth, because if he is unable to wear down the teeeth properly , the same is going to go for his back teeth to.

I would defintely make your first priority to get him to a rabbit savy vet then go from there.

There is another option of having the teeth removed, many rabbits (one on here in particular i am thinking of) can live perfectly happy normal lives with no teeth, but that is also a big surgery , and a recovery period so that is also something that would need to be discussed with a rabbit savy vet.

Good luck

 

[tonyshuman]

I don't believe in clipping the teeth yourself unless it's an emergency and you can't get a vet to do it. It's actually better to have a vet use a special dental tool that's a lot like a Dremel to trim the teeth off. Plus, they can look at the back teeth. It's far too easy to cut a tooth too short, or not get a clean cut, a tooth breaking, etc.

I'm not sure what you're describing about the teeth, but usually when there are problems with the front, there are also problems with the back.

Here's our library article with a lot of good links:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11901&forum_id=10

I really like this video as well--it shows a vet doing the procedures.

[ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=LtZovDkR18s[/ame]

 

[Maureen Las]

I have a holland lop with gum disease and massive teeth problems. I also live in a small city with vets that are not able to do dentistryin rabbits.
When my boy had overgrown incisors at the age of 2 the vets here said that his molars were fine based on looking at them with a scope.
I wanted to get his incisors removed and spent a lot of time trying to find a person in this state who was qualified. I found a animal dentist affiliated with the University of Wi. in Madison and made the 6 hr (total trip) ride to have Beau evaluated.

As it turned out his malformed incisors were more normal than his abnormal molars which were puncturing his inner cheeks and his peridontal disease . I have to make the trip to Madison 3-4 times per year and should go more than that. It is very expensive.
I think that you should let us know your location and also check with your state's house rabbit society.... that is howI got the name of the animal denitst that does Beau's teeth. Usually you can find good people around a university with a good veterinary school .
As others already stated have his total mouth evaluated and see what you are up against.

It is correct that clipping incisors is risky , however I do it inbetween dental visits out of necessityknowing thatI am risking a bigger problem everytimeI do it.; it is the best thatI can do.

Let us know and maybe we can also help you find a dentist or vet that is knowledeable in dentistry for that very important first evaluation.
You can not see the molars with a scope but must have x-rays to see what is going on back there and/or anesthesze the rabbit .

 

[Flick]

I agree that you should not try to clip the teeth yourself. I'm dealing with a rabbit, Stella, who has massive malocclusions. She's had 5 lower molars removed on her lower right side and one above. She's also had the two lower incisors removed and they're growing back. Her teeth were also swimming in pus. I'm doing a series of videos about her teeth and have the first one up.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FastUpOnRabbitCare

Although Stella is under anesthesia in this video, she's had her incisors trimmed twice without anesthesia. And, just the trim does not cost much, about $10 plus the office visit.

You do need to get x-rays of her mouth. The vet may or may not anesthetize for the x-rays.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

we have to take Stewart II to the vet every other month as his front teeth don't line up so they don't wear and his back molars also need to get shave--I don't want to try doing the front and there is no way I can do the back ones. You need to find a good rabbit savvy vet and get an evaluation.

 

[Pipp]

Metalheadbunny wrote:

Basil bunny has teeth issues...! he was born with deformed teeth other than that he's perfectly healthy .His bottom teeth are in front of his back im not shure what to do. The town i live at his quite small and i don't trust the two vets that live here. I took him to an old breeder who had been showing and rasing rabbits for thirty years. She told me i can clip his overgrown teeth  with wire cutters, and that he should be fine, im worried that it will make the problem worse,  can anyone give me tips?

I think you can 'train' the vets you have there to do the job. A lot of breeders will clip or grind the front teeth themselves (and this is a Pam Nock question I think as to exactly how it's done), and there are risks, but you can also just subtly provide the local vets with the link to Flick's videos (which are probably excellent, most of them are), and maybe other research material about anesthetics/sedatives, etc.

If its the front teeth (maloccluded incisors) I'd think that if you have a fairly calm rabbit and/or the vet has a good tool, it can be not much more of deal than clipping his nails.

Molar spurs are more of an issue (and less likely to be the problem in mini-rexes), the bunnies do need to be anesthetized or sedated. I've managed to keep Pipp's in check via her diet.



sas :bunnydance:

 

[tonyshuman]

I was lucky to see a presentation by my vet at a meeting of bunny people about bunny dental care. She said that clippers can still be quite difficult in a vet's hands, and that the best way to do it is to use a rotary tool much like a Dremel if at all possible. This high-speed drill is used to cut the teeth off, and can also be used to wear down spurs on the back molars.