People who know about rabbit teeth/dental problems. My sister saw a new vet.

My sister rang me in tears today because she'd been recommended an exotic vet and took her buns in to get their VHD injections and check the place out. She said the vet was very short with her and spoke down to her, but I said he probably gets a lot of rabbit owners who are effectively neglecting their pets because they don't know how to look after them. But she said she had explained Dexter's situation to him and made it perfectly clear she knew what she was doing with rabbits. He said he was going to inspect the quality of her hay but she'd only put the cheap bedding hay in the carrier and to be fair her rabbits get better hay than mine! But apparently he was not very nice to her and she didn't like the way he handled her rabbits either. He wrapped Dexter up in a towel even though he's really well behaved and doesn't need it and apparently he was really rough with them too...

Dexter hasn't got any front teeth. I saw him in a pet shop with them growing out of his mouth and after speaking to them and my vets I took him to sort him out and rehome him. His teeth were so bad they had to come out and my sister fell in love with him. This vet started saying to her that if bad teeth are caught early then they don't have to come out, as if it was my sister's choice, even though she explained everything to him first. So she wasn't happy. Then he started talking about his molars.

Apparently his bottom ones are too long and his top ones too short and the bottom ones are a bit wonky. He also said the bottoms ones will push the top ones into his jaw and cause the roots to close up his tear ducts. The thing is he had an abscess in his jaw and has already had skull x-rays by my vets who I trust completely. I'm sure they would have told me if there was anything up with his teeth especially as we're all sure he's from the same 'family' as Grimlock. The x-ray was only taken a couple of months ago. Can the bottom molars even push the top ones into the jaw? I thought it was the roots growing too much that caused tear duct problems.

Anyway I told my sister to ring my vets and discuss it with them as they have x-rays and know Dexter very well and have a lot of experience with all his problems. I'm sure they would have picked up on something like this because Grim has all these problems. We're sure there is a bad breeder where both Grim and Dexter have come from as they're so similar and they've also seen other rabbits come in who look similar and have the same sorts of problems too.

What do you think about what he had to say about the molars?

By the way, the rabbits didn't even get their injections because they were out of stock...

They don't so much 'push' the upper teeth but they prevent the normal direction of growth. If the lower molars are long, the upper molars don't have space to grow downwards in the mouth. Because they still continue to grow anyway, but can't move downwards, they effectively end up migrating upwards into the jaw. This can't be confirmed without Xrays but is not unusual.
Marie

We have quite a few dental buns with over long lower incisors and near nothing for top incisors. They also tend to have root problems too :? I think that if the upper teeth can;t grow down properly the roots start to spread up instead. Which is why tooth root bunnies tend to have their molars burred back to gum level, to encourage tooth growth rather than root growth.

Okay that sounds more like sense to me.
So basically he just needs a dental? He's eating fine so do you think it's something that should be done now, even though it's not causing hi ma problem yet? If it's left until it's a problem will it be too late? This vet said that with two operation it could actually make the teeth sit straight and grow properly.

Ooh sorry I got confused and thought you were talking about his incisors not his molars, don;t think I read it properly But my reply still sort of works :lol:

Jenova said:

Okay that sounds more like sense to me.
So basically he just needs a dental? He's eating fine so do you think it's something that should be done now, even though it's not causing hi ma problem yet? If it's left until it's a problem will it be too late? This vet said that with two operation it could actually make the teeth sit straight and grow properly.

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My Homer has this problem and has regular dentals to keep the condition under control. I tend to have them done before they cause any problems but only because I know how long he can go before he has problems.

I probably didn't make much sense.
He's got no incisors. The vet said his molars would grow up or get pushed up.

This is why he's got no front teeth.



But he's a happy married bunny now.