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Dental Gus's Teeth!

Incredipigs

Incredipigs

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Today I noticed Gus (skinny pig) wasn't eating his dinner. I immediately panicked because Gus loves his dinner. I checked his teeth and was shocked at how awful they were! Both his top teeth have broken, he's just got two spiky stumps and his bottom teeth are super long. I only adopted him a few weeks ago so I'm guessing his teeth were like that since we got him. I give him hay 24/7 and he's got lots of things to chew. I've just sliced up some spring greens really small and replaced his pellets with mushy ones, he seems to be eating a little bit. I'm going to phone around some vets in the morning to find out prices and which one is best with small animals.
Does anyone know what he will need doing to his teeth?
 
Incredipigs said:
Today I noticed Gus (skinny pig) wasn't eating his dinner. I immediately panicked because Gus loves his dinner. I checked his teeth and was shocked at how awful they were! Both his top teeth have broken, he's just got two spiky stumps and his bottom teeth are super long. I only adopted him a few weeks ago so I'm guessing his teeth were like that since we got him. I give him hay 24/7 and he's got lots of things to chew. I've just sliced up some spring greens really small and replaced his pellets with mushy ones, he seems to be eating a little bit. I'm going to phone around some vets in the morning to find out prices and which one is best with small animals.
Does anyone know what he will need doing to his teeth?
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Hi! It depends on your vet's examination and whether they think the top incisors are likely to grow back or not. Please also ask your vet to chack the back teeth for signs os spurs. Weak incisors can be a result of long term malnutrition. If he has suddenly stopped picking up food, then it must just have happened.
If the roots are not affected (incisors are about 4 cm long), then they will grow back again within 7-10 days and won't need any further attention. Nor do the lower incisors, which ALWAYS look to long to the uninitiated. They only need clipping if they are pointing inwards and are no longer wearing off against the upper incisors. If that is not the case, please don't have them clipped right down!
 
Change of plan, I phoned up a different vets and they sounded alot more confident so I decided to book with them instead. He's booked in for 5:20pm
 
Best advise I can offer is to let the incisors grow back as long as they are not causing any soreness. This happened to my Bill a few month ago. They should grow back within 3 - 4 weeks or so and will wear down the opposing teeth which initially grow longer. If no sign of teeth erupting from gums at all or sores in mouth then see a vet ASAP. Simon Maddock is the best guinea pig dental vet at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic Northampton. He can do conscious dentals on back molars. We visited him yesterday for a check up on both Bill and Ted’s teeth and this is what he advised me yesterday if Bill broke anymore teeth again. If you can get there it will be well worth the effort! There is a good example on Guinea Pig Lynx about a guinea pig with broken teeth with photos of regrowth each week.
Hope you get your boys teeth sorted x
 
My old boars teeth broke, they grew back fine. But he had to have an xray to check for damage up the top
 
Took Gus to the vets and he said everything was fine. He said his top teeth were broken but weren't sharp and should grow back. He also gave Gus a full check up and said he was a healthy pig :D I'm still not sure why he's not been eating though :(
 
Incredipigs said:
Took Gus to the vets and he said everything was fine. He said his top teeth were broken but weren't sharp and should grow back. He also gave Gus a full check up and said he was a healthy pig :D I'm still not sure why he's not been eating though :(
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Have they broken evenly?
 
So the vet did absolutely nothing? Am I understanding this correctly?
This concerns me greatly, as without anything to wear against, the bottom teeth have clearly overgrown and will continue to overgrow. The broken teeth should've been burred straight and the vet should've checked for signs of a brewing incisor root abscess, plus the longer bottom incisors should've also been burred to an appropriate length, whereby as all incisors grow, they will come back into the correct lengths and wear properly. In the meantime, you will need to cut all food into thin strips, as this will enable your guinea pig to be able to pick up the food and use the back teeth to chew it. Did the vet check the back teeth? If the guinea pig can't eat, even when the food is placed into the mouth, then there is clearly a problem with the cheek teeth too.
 
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