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Fractured Front Incisor

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PappisnDemba

Junior Guinea Pig
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Just back from vets after noticing that Demba was behaving oddly and struggling to eat anything hard. On examination, the vet said she had never seen any thing like it - her tooth was split down the middle, from top to bottom! We have no idea what has caused this although the vet said it must have been some sort of trauma. Luckily, the tooth was so loose that the vet was able to pull out that broken bit - leaving her with a half width tooth. We don't really know what will happen now - she has pain relief, anti biotics and critical care - back to the vets on Thursday to make sure her remaining tooth has stabilized. Has anyone else experienced anything like this before? Poor Demba :(
 
Hi! I'm so sorry to here about your guinea pig :c

A few years ago, my oldest boy, Greyson, leapt out of my arms and broke one of his front teeth clean off. He wasn't injured or anything, but the loss of his tooth contributed to a spout of depression he found himself in. He wouldn't eat on his own and barely moved. This was before I was introduced to critical care, so I ground up veggies an pellets and force fed him through a syringe. Of course the tooth grew back and he was perfectly fine, still is today!

My best advice is to feed her often, even if she doesn't want it. Make sure to give her water too if she won't drink on her own! Monitor her weight to make sure she she's eating enough.

Good luck Demba!
 
Thanks for the replies. She is managing to eat a bit but not her normal amount. Things obviously feel very strange in her mouth and she seems to be getting bits of food stuck. I made up some of the critical care - she didn't like the syringe but was happy to lap some off a spoon. She's a good weight - 1.2 kg - so I'll keep an eye on her to make sure she maintains this. These guineas certainly keep us on our toes!
 
I've just searched fractured tooth and come across this as my Frank has a vets appointment tonight for exactly the same thing. His lower (looking at him) right hand incisor has split, he has not been eating as much as usual the last few days but this is not totally unusual as his name is fussy Frank, today i had him out for his eye drops and a cuddle and was tickling his chin when i saw the split my first thought was it was a piece of hay stuck between his teeth. He has unlimited hay and pellets as he is unusual in that he is not greedy and will self limit himself, unlimited water and plenty of fresh vegetables and herbs with occasional fruit, he eats peppers and has plenty of vitamin c. He has not fallen, jumped or been dropped, he does not bite his bars. I would be very interested if anyone else has experienced this and what the outcome with Demba is.
 
Hi. Demba did really well whilst on the antibiotics but when she came off them she became withdrawn again. I took her back to the vets on Weds evening and she has an infection in the root of the snapped tooth. We've now got a 3 week course of antibiotics so hopefully this will sort her out - the vet said if it persisted they could take the remaining tooth out although that is a last resort as the roots are so deep! The half that snapped off has almost grown down again (less than 2 weeks) so we are hoping that it continues to grow evenly. We do not know how she did it either, although the vet maintains that it must have been some sort of trauma. The only thing I can think of is the hard fruit and seed bar I had in the cage (they've always loved them) and I wonder if she has bitten down really hard on this. Needless to say, they can't have them anymore! Let me know how Frank gets on - our vet said she had never seen a completely fractured tooth before!IMG_3869.webpIMG_3869.webpIMG_3869.webp

Trying to add a pic of the fractured tooth to show you - this is what the vet removed!
 
Wow look at the length of that! Frank had the fractured bit clipped off and the broken tooth clipped down, the vet said that the incisor felt quite loose and there is a strong possibility that he will loose the tooth. The fracture seemed to originate in the root. We are waiting to see how his tooth grows back before deciding on any other treatments it may grow back fractured but hopefully it is a one off and it will grow normally. In the meantime he will have metacam if its sore and i will ribbon his carrots and pick the leaves off his herbs for him. I'll keep a check that his other teeth don't overgrow. Frank doesn't have fruit and seed bars i am at a loss to explain it.Our vet also said she had never seen one like this before.
 
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