Starbuck's Teeth?

Can someone confirm for me - is it possible for bunnies to have spurs/bad teeth in bits that it is not possible to see with the oroscope while the bunny is conscious?

The reason I ask is that Starbuck has trouble with his teeth and tear ducts. His roots are a bit overgrown but not amongst the worst of them. He suffers a lot (almost constantly) with weepy eyes and has had his tearducts flushed, again the x-ray, which was several months ago, showed that these werent that bad. Eye drops do not seem to make any difference - so we just try to keep them clean and apply vaseline.

He has regular conscious dentals - the most recent being less than a month ago, when he had tiny spurs just starting to form.

When Starbuck was poorly last week with his tummy, the vet did a thorough look in his mouth and felt all around his jaw and head very thorougly.

Occasionally though I think I hear him grinding his teeth quite loudly and his eyes seem quite bad today. He doesnt seem to be in any pain.

He isnt currently off his food - since he had the problem with his tummy on Wednesday where he wasnt really eating, he has tucked in to lots of greens and hay, though perhaps a little less of his pellets.

I dont know whether to take him back to the vets for a tooth check under sedation. The vet thought his teeth were fine anyway.

I dont know if maybe Starbuck was just tooth purring or had something in his mouth he was munching, but I have kind of thought it for a while now...but then again the noise isnt REALLY loud either, so I dont know what to think.

Bunny tooth experts - please give me your advice! :wave:

Am certainly not an expert but i just wanted to wish him well!! :wave: Hope he's ok xxx

hi.....just thought id say that sometimes there are spurs further back that cannot be seen with an otoscope during a routine exam.

also i found very few vets bother burring the teeth both sides to make it even. so the tooth surface height is different and the wear and tear uneven.
believe you me..been there too many times.

also when a dental is needed..after a while you can tell from your buns behaviour..ie wont eat as much hay..then to the point of rushing to the food bowl but only taking a few pellets and looking miserable. once you get to know the signs..trust them.
vets will say oh the teeth are fine..are they fine or are the spurs so small they dont consider them a problem.
my bridge bunny bif..she was a dental bun.....one dental lasted her 8 monthsbecause they burred low and both sides..but the spurs were miniscule by comparison...but enough to affect her.

merlins the same...tiny spurs...big reaction to it.

there is a chance that it could be missed. Cherry's teeth were missed repeatedly by three different vets because the spurs were so far back.

Ok thanks guys. So if I suspected this would the appropriate way forward be for the vet to have a proper look under sedation? Or something else?

My Lola has serious dental disease. Everytime she's needed a dental more spurs are discovered than first observed with the oroscope. The first ever dental and x-ray showed exactly how bad her dental disease was, but it wasn't observable by oroscope either.

Hope Starbuck is oki xxx

Thank you - he is absolutely fine, polishing off all his pellets and tucking in to hay and begging for treats, so there is nothing immediately wrong at all.

Its just one of those things that every now and then I stop and wonder. Like the very occasional loud tooth noise and the constant eye weeping problem (working on OH about getting a girl for him to keep his eyes clean etc etc).

And then with last week when he had the hard bits in his tummy and wasnt eating much and wasnt pooing, and obviously was in pain then...it just made me think - could that have been caused by spurs on his teeth I cant see? But as I say the vet did a thorough observation in his mouth and around his mouth....but the one thing about conscious dentals is that they cant see right up the back.

I dont think he is due back anytime soon for any vacs so we wouldnt be back at the vet until he next needs a dental, so I suppose I am just wondering whether his next one needs to be with sedation, or whether he needs to go sooner. Its complicated being a bunny mummy sometimes isnt it?

Homer has conscious dentals each month but every so often he has one under GA (6 months apart) so it may be necessary that every so often Starbuck may need a more thorough dental as that is the best way for the vets to get right to the back and level teeth as required.