Loose tooth

I got back from the vet, which is that new vet clinic I'm trying out. This doctor was not as experienced with rabbits as one of the other vets there, but he said he knew a lot about dental abscesses in rabbits and even wrote a paper on it and dealt with it a lot. He did an exam on Yuki and said he didn't feel any abscesses. He also did a body x-ray on him to check his gut and said he didn't notice anything unusual. Then he did another exam of his teeth and said this time he noticed that one of his back teeth was quite loose. He didn't want to put Yuki under anesthetic because he didn't feel comfortable with it, and suggested I make an appointment with their exotic expert who is working on Saturday. He said the tooth will have to come out. He's not sure if there's a beginning abscess there or not, but in any case, the tooth will be extracted. The exotic expert would overlook the surgery and anesthetic, and she would also do a bunch of skull and possibly dental x-rays before the surgery. She might do a blood panel too. I'm glad that finally something is being done, but I'm worried about the money. I already spent my entire college fund in the last week on this particular illness, so now I will have no choice but to borrow money from my mom, and the doctor said it will be probably around $500 all together. Of course I'll do anything for my baby, but I can't help worrying about this. What if the tooth extraction doesn't help? I'm running out of options.

I was wondering, could a loose tooth be so uncomfortable and stressful that it would drastically decrease a rabbit's appetite? Could this really be the cause of Yuki's mystery illness?

my frech lop, Pierre had somthing similar two of the roots of his top molars have become very overgrown causing infection and inflamation in the bone, this infection resulted in serveral of his molars iteraly 'falling out'

.....'I was wondering, could a loose tooth be so uncomfortable and stressful that it would drastically decrease a rabbit's appetite'.......

in Pierre's case his appatite began to decrease about a week befor his dental and he started picking at his food and from my own personal experiance of an abcess that formed next to my wisdom tooth......its painfull enough to put you off doing anything.

Sakura6267 said:

I was wondering, could a loose tooth be so uncomfortable and stressful that it would drastically decrease a rabbit's appetite?

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Yes Even a sharp spur on a tooth could be enough to cause low grade dental pain sufficient to stop a bun wanting to eat. The longer they don't eat, the more they don't want to eat as other gastrointestinal processes and feedback systems kick in, dehydration is one of them.

Did the vet give Yuki some pain relief to go home with? or whilst he was there? If there is an abcess behind the rotten tooth then it is likely that Yuki will be in quite a lot of pain and still find it difficult to eat, or not want to. When he does the surgery to remove the tooth, if there is an abcess, this will need to be drained and if possible a swab taken from the wall of the abcess to culture so that he can find the correct antibiotics to treat Yuki with. It would be sensible whilst he is under for him to have an Xray of his head to check the other teeth and make sure there is no bone infection in his jaw bone from the bad tooth as they have suggested already. I know this is expensive but it might be very helpful in getting to the bottom of Yuki's problem.

I'm so pleased that he is finally getting some treatment and you have located a possible 'source' of all his troubles. I can imagine how worried about the finances you are...especially with College to pay for. I think Yuki is a very lucky bun to have such a caring owner willing to do anything to get him better again. Me and my buns are thinking of you. Please let us all know on here how Yuki gets on with his Op.
In the meantime it is really important that he has adequate pain relief, fluids and food - even if this means syringe feeding more CC, as he will need all his strength for his Op and his GA. Good luck

Yuki is doing the same thing with his appetite too, and this started happening 1 week ago from today. I think his case is the same with the tooth root causing problems. I hope that once they get rid of this loose tooth that it won't happen again.

I remember when Yuki first started developing dental problems. These spurs were growing into his cheeks causing blisters! It was awful, and I didn't have a rabbit savvy vet at the time so no one knew what was happening with him. Finally I figured out there were special exotic vets in the city, and brought him to one straight away. When he had these spurs, he was even worse than he is now with eating. He couldn't even eat his lettuce.

The vet yesterday said he was very slightly dehydrated, but that could have been from the long car ride there too. He does drink water on his own. The only pain relief I got was a refill of Metacam. The doctor said that he didn't seem very sick or in pain, so the Metacam is helping. He seems to be doing well on it right now.

They will be doing skull x-rays before they extract the tooth, and they might do a dental one as well. The doctor said this right away, so it made me feel a lot better because I think the doctors at this clinic are just way more knowledgeable about treating rabbits than the other exotic clinic I went to before. The other clinic never suggested any injectable pain killers, (which he will be getting after the tooth extraction), or even bothered to take a closer look in his mouth! I'm so relieved that Yuki was finally diagnosed with something! He will be going to this clinic from now on, and next time he needs his teeth done, he will be put under and they will be filed down as it should be. I can't help feeling guilty for not researching the method for teeth problems more thoroughly, otherwise I would have known that the doctor at the clinic I took him to before was wrong to be doing it without anesthetic, and clipping his teeth instead of filing them. I figured because they considered themselves an exotic clinic that they knew what they were doing. I'm glad I found a much better vet now, but I can't help kicking myself for bringing him to this other clinic for the last 3 years.

I just hate these dental problems! I sincerely hope that there is no abscess behind this tooth. I guess they could get rid of it right away while he's under, but I know it will be even more painful for him. I just feel so helpless now. I have no choice but to wait until Saturday, and meanwhile I'm afraid it might get worse. I just want it taken care of right away, but this lady only works on Saturdays for some reason. She is most likely the best exotic vet in the city, and apparently this clinic has a good reputation of exotics because of her. In her profile it says she worked 2 years exclusively with exotics, and is also highly trained to treat them. I think if anyone can help him, she can. I just hate waiting these extra 2 days. At least I have Critical Care at home, and he's still eating his veggies and some pellets. I'm worried about money, but my little Yuki is way more important. Luckily my mom is willing to loan me the money I need for Saturday. What's important now is just getting my little bun better and back to normal.

Sakura6267 said:

I think his case is the same with the tooth root causing problems.

They will be doing skull x-rays before they extract the tooth, and they might do a dental one as well.

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both the over grown molar roots as well as the inflamation were evident on Pierre's xray. you mentioned in your first post that he had had both a body and head xray...if there was an over grown root why was it not picked up?
how long ago did he have them done?

He actually didn't have a head x-ray, just a body one and that was done yesterday. The doctor wanted to make sure there was nothing suspicious in his gut, and he wanted to wait until Saturday with the expert vet to do a skull one.