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Teeth Malocclusion/ongoing dental problems

lor5379

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Hi

I have a 4 year old guinea pig (Alfie) who was adopted so I don't know his early history. Over the last 1-2 years one of his top incisors does not seem to be wearing down. I took him to the vets and they said he had broken his bottom tooth so could not grind down the top one. He has a constantly supply of timothy and meadow hay as well as fresh veg and is not on pellets as I was told this could make the problem worse.

He has had his teeth trimmed 6 times under anesthetic and just 3 weeks after his last dental treatment his top tooth is once again very long and causing him to struggle to eat. I'm taking him back to the vets this week but I'm at a loss for what to do next. As things look at the moment he'll be having dental work done under anesthetic every 3/4 weeks. Aside from the cost which is not important if I can help him, surely this amount of anesthetic can't be good for a small animal.

In every other way Alfie is absolutely fine and so far hasn't lost any weight. I just don't know where to go next
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Thanks in advance for any help/advice. I'll try and get a pic of his teeth as well if he'll let me, but here he is anyway..17353564_10155107969776804_849751834443942063_n.jpg
 

bpatters

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If he's missing a bottom tooth, there's not much you can do to keep the top tooth from overgrowing.

But you can learn to trim it yourself. You need bone rongeurs, and someone to hold the pig. The pig does not have to be anesthetized. If your vet won't teach you how to do it, look around for someone who will.
 

spy9doc

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As things look at the moment he'll be having dental work done under anesthetic every 3/4 weeks.

Unless this is the only possible solution to keep him alive, you want to avoid it at all costs! His little body will take a hit each time he goes under anesthesia and it will surely shorten his life. I have written about my Chester, and more recently, Guinea Pig Papa has just lost his Sly.....both with severe dental issues.

Follow @bpatters advice and learn to do the dental shortening yourself!
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Agreed. If you can learn to do this at all yourself, and save yourself both the costs of vet visits but more importantly spare Alfie the anesthetic, by all means do it.

I have a very long thread chronicling Sly's journey with malocclusion here. Sly's journey ended Saturday morning.
 

bpatters

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Just to be clear for anyone who is reading... You can't do this yourself if the problem is with the molars, which it usually is.

But in this case, this pig is missing a front tooth that would help keep the opposing tooth ground down, so it's always going to grow too long.

One thing I should have mentioned is that the tooth can also be filed down. A glass rasp is probably better than a metal one, and make sure the rasp doesn't have a point on it (such as for cleaning under fingernails).
 
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