HARVEY'S MISALIGNED JAW- CAN ANYTHING BE DONE?

Hello,

As some of you may know I have a wild bunny, whom I found injured in the road on Easter Sunday last year. He has been treated by the Vet and due to his accident his front and back teeth are misaligned on one side of his face.

Harvey has to have regular dentals to have his molars and incisors trimmed. A while ago it was suggested that we remove Harveys front teeth. My Vet is slightly sceptical about this as she thinks that his teeth problems are due to the fact that his jaw was knocked, which in turn has caused his front teeth to misalign and not the other way around.

Next time Harv has to have his molars done he will have an x-ray so that
we can see exactly how his teeth/roots are positioned.

However, last wk we took Harvey to have his front teeth burred and the Vet moved his jaw back into the correct place with her hand and all his teeth lined up perfectly. This leads us to believe that his jaw was knocked on one side which has resulted in all his teeth problems.

My question is- Is there anything that can be done to realign a wonky jaw?
Any kind of operation that could possibly correct his jaw? It is only one side that is out of line. Even if I had to take Harv miles away to a specialist, I would, if I knew it would rectify all his problems.

Any advice, much appreciated,

Nicola and Harvey xxx

Hi Nic. I would ask your Vet to refer Harvey to the Rabbit Clinic at Bristol Zoo. I believe the referal clinic is held there every Wednesday. However, I must warn you that it will be VERY EXPENSIVE . A cardiac referal for one of my now Bridge Bunnies cost £900!! :shock: And no, he WAS NOT insured!! :roll: :roll: Sadly because Harvey's problem is well established you would not be able to get insurance cover for anything relating to his jaw problems. I will email a Vet friend of mine who MAY have some contacts too. I'll PM you anything she may be able to find out. Please give Harvey a snuggle from me. Jane and Buns xx

Hi Jane,

Any info you can find out for my dear Harvey would be fab!!!
WOW!! £900 that is expensive. Was that for all the treatment and did they sort your bunster out? I would be willing to save my pennies up.

I just wondered whether there was any procedure that could be done to correct a misaligned jaw . It's only on one side that his teeth are affected.

Lots of love to you, Jack and Mags,

Nic and Harvey xxx

No info, sorry, but just wanted to say how beautiful Harvey is

Hi Sarah,

He is a real cutie and a fuss monster. When he wants fuss he will approach you and plonk his head on the floor for head and ear strokes!!!

I just feel so sorry for the poor man having to go to and from the Vets all the time. He gets so scared and last wk when he had his teeth burred it seemed to take ages and ages. When he eventually came back
into the consulting room his eyes were popping out of his head. I got him home and his heart was still pounding. I feel so guilty for putting him through it all. I could hear the drilling sound and it was so loud. It must be very traumatic for him.

The last couple of times he has had his front teeth burred. But both times he was very stressed out about it.

Previously he had had them clipped and he was fine until I took him to a different Vet and he totally cocked his teeth up. Am now wondering whether it may be kinder to get them clipped after all as long as I take him to my ususal Vet. I asked my Vet about it and she said she hates both ways as they both have pros and cons.


.......Poor Harvey : (

If there was something that could be done to remedy his poor teeth I would save all my pennies up so that he could have it done.

Any advice welcome,

Nic and Harvey xxx

You'd need an xray probably to have any idea whether it would be possible. Is it his jaw bone that's out of line or just the teeth roots? I wouldn't have thought they could do anything as bunny jaws are quite fragile and it would be difficult to get it to heal. To realign the jaw they'd have to break it and wire it which would make feeding difficult and it would have to be absolutely perfect to cure the problem.

How often and which teeth does he need work on? If he needs his front teeth done more often than the back then it might be worth getting them removed as that would cut down on the frequency.

I wouldn't recommend clipping as that can result in fracturing the teeth and making them worse.

Tam

I took two of my rabbits to a dental specialist in the South. His name is Cedric Tutt. His website is: http://www.vet-dentist.com/
He is not always in the country, but well worth contacting and ask whether he might be able to help! (And I thought that his prices were very reasonable too...)

Vera

Harvey's having an x-ray next time he has his molars burred. He has to have his molars done every 2-3 months and his incisors every month or so.

In his accident Harvey was hit on the side of the face, so it is most likely that the jaw was mislaigned from the impact of a blow to the side of the face. He was also blinded in one eye on the side that was hit.
The vet doesn't think that removing the front teeth will benefit Harvey as it is most probable that the molars are pushing the incisors out of line and not the other way around. When he has the x-ray we will be able to see for sure. It is only one side of his Jaw that his teeth are misaligned.

Hi Lurchergirl! Thanks for the info I will have a look at this website in a mo. Did he manage to sort your bunnies problems out?

Nic and Harvey xxx

With one of my bunnies, it wasn't the teeth after all, but he had one side of his face paralysed after an injury. I thought it was the teeth because Sunny had blocked tearducs and because he looked lop sided . Cedric found that it was definitely not the teeth and referred me to a specialist that managed to diagnose the problem correctly and Sunny has now been fine for over two years having eye drops every day.

With Apollo, there wasn't much that could be done. But after he took the x-rays, he was able to say that Apollo had an uneven jawline and would therefore need dentals for the rest of his life... where as my own vet wasn't able to tell me why he had the problems (although they did a good job with the dentals).

Cedric however was able to help my friend's rabbit that needed dentals every few weeks (six weeks). Cedric filed his molars down as far as he could, which meant that he didn't need dentals for months... unfortunately said rabbit got killed by a dog six months later, so we never found out how much longer than that it would have lasted. But the bunny was definitely a lot more comfortable after that procedure.

I would trust Cedric with anything dental. He is excellent - and a very nice person too (which helps)!

Vera

Hi Vera,

I looked his website up and have emailed the chap.

Thanks,

Nic and Harvey xxx