Piccies of teeth?

Does anyone have any photos of their bun's teeth? I took Bluebell to a small animal farm the other day to get her nails cut and the lady there said she had a slight overbite of her teeth. Is this normal or not? I have read in some places that it is ok and not in others? My last bunnie was a dental bun and eventually had to be put to sleep due to osteomyelitis of her jaw so I am completely paranoid about teeth now!

Aren't all bunnies teeth look overshot? (the top teeth go over the bottom). And they file at the back of the top teeth?

Bluebell's Mum said:

Does anyone have any photos of their bun's teeth? I took Bluebell to a small animal farm the other day to get her nails cut and the lady there said she had a slight overbite of her teeth. Is this normal or not? I have read in some places that it is ok and not in others? My last bunnie was a dental bun and eventually had to be put to sleep due to osteomyelitis of her jaw so I am completely paranoid about teeth now!

Click to expand...

Incisors or molars?

That's what I am not sure. Her top ones overlap the bottom ones a little which I think may be ok? I am being really careful with her diet and she is a god hay eater. My OH thinks I am nuts when he catches me Googling rabbits teeth!!!

Incisors

I'm guessing that she means the incisors as she would have no way of seeing the molars :?

And yest it is completely normal for the top to overlap the bottom set. If they look level and the right length, there shouldn't be a problem

this is a good diagram http://www.peteducation.com/images/articles/no_normalincisors.jpg

Let me just take a snaps of a bun I can grab!

Here are pics as promised:


Ghostie is a 2 year old rescue doe.

Thanks, I will maybe try and take pic of her teeth later but they look much the same as your buns

When I asked a specialist vet about teeth problems after I just lost my baby to an abcess. I was told they can tell at twelve weeks old if there are going to be any front dental problems if the jaw does not line up the teeth will never grind down. I was told to go straight for a tooth extraction and not to even mess around with teeth burring as I had done previously.

kgattrell said:

When I asked a specialist vet about teeth problems after I just lost my baby to an abcess. I was told they can tell at twelve weeks old if there are going to be any front dental problems if the jaw does not line up the teeth will never grind down. I was told to go straight for a tooth extraction and not to even mess around with teeth burring as I had done previously.

Click to expand...

Well just to put another angle on that vets theory, our rescue bun Nino, whom we got at around 5-6 months had a damaged jaw probably trauma related. With a couple of careful burrs our vet was able to readjust his bite and as he was still young enough his jaw and face muscles adapted to the new bite and his incisors are now self-wearing. He has not needed a burr in nearly 2 years *touch wood* He was having them every 4wks before we got him! So I personally think it depends on the degree of malocculsion, whether it is genetic or trauma related, and whether or not the diet of the bunny in its youth can be adapted to assist in correct dental wear and mineral absorption to help with this condition. Of course, in clear cases of genetic malocclusion then it may be better to remove the incisors to stop bunny having to go through repeated dentals on the incisors, and they can manage well enough without them.
But as I understood it, incisor malocculsion is often a secondary symptom of a more severe dental problem and disruption of the jaw mechanics, cheek tooth overgrowth and abnormal tooth root elongation. On this basis, removing the incisors will not solve the problem and a bunny with malocclusion is still likely to be at risk of cheek teeth problems, especially with age related changes to the jaw.
If the specialist you saw was David Crossley then.... it's his work i've been reading, in which case he's right!