Dental Issues

[dangerman]

Hello,

It's been a while since I've been on here. It's changed a bit and wondering if you could help.

One of my piggies wasn't well last week she was lying very still in her cage. She has also gotten very thin very quickly.

We rushed her to the vets who saw her straight away.

Checked her over and confirmed that it was an issue with her teeth causing her to not eat, basically starving herself.

He said that her front teeth and one side of her back teeth are fine however the one side of her back teeth aren't aligned and therefore not meeting together causing her teeth to overgrow, he said this is unusual because he'd usually expect to see both sides not just one.

Anyway he's given us some medicine to help but I'm really confused as to what to expect next. He basically said he'd want to see her in two weeks for a check up.

Fortunantly she has responded really well and is eating veggies now, along with hay. She has had a small nibble at her hard food also.

She is separated from others and is being weighed daily to ensure she isn't loosing any weight.

She has kept the same weight now for a few days.

My question is should I be expecting the worst on our next visit? Is this treatable, and If so will it be a lifetime of treatment?

The vet was very good however both my gf and i are very confused and not sure what options are available to us.

Thanks

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Where are you located? This is very important in your case, as it determines how much and what kind of help we can offer you.

If it is due to a misalignment of the jaw, she will need lifelong dental treatment. With that, she can live a happy, full life. One of the forum mods, furryfriends, is running a sanctuary for dental piggies in conjunction with a specialist vet in Northampton. She has had amazing success with both piggies that were fit to go back home after just a few rounds of treatment and permanent residents that need lifelong dental support.
http://www.teasnorthampton.co.uk/

 

[Freela]

There are some very knowledgeable teeth people on the board, so hopefully you will get some good advice. My two cents is to keep checking along the side of her jaw for lumps or bumps. Sometimes overgrown teeth on one side can be due an abscess that hasn't really popped out yet, but may later one. One of my pigs was repeatedly having dental work done (every 8 weeks or so) due to overgrowth of teeth on one side. Finally after the third dental, she developed a large swelling on the jaw near her ear that was an abscess. She had it lanced and drained, which wasn't a whole lot of fun for any of us and took a long time to completely heal, but (knock on wood) since the abscess being treated surgically about 3 months ago, she has not had any issues with teeth overgrowth requiring dental work. My vet thinks that she likely had an abscess festering for all those months before the swelling became apparent that was uncomfortable and leading her to chew in a lopsided way that was causing the uneven wear on her teeth.